RUN AWAY!!!

From CNN

Report: Al Qaeda steps up efforts to hit U.S.

Al Qaeda is stepping up its efforts to sneak terror operatives into the United States and has acquired most of the capabilities it needs to strike here, according to a draft U.S. intelligence assessment, The Associated Press has learned.

The draft National Intelligence Estimate is expected to paint an increasingly worrisome portrait of al Qaeda's ability to use its base along the Pakistan-Afghan border to launch and inspire attacks, even as Bush administration officials say the U.S. is safer nearly six years into the war on terror.

Naturally, we should withdraw.

From CNN

House passes bill to bring troops home in '08

President Bush vetoed a war-spending bill with a similar withdrawal date in May and has threatened to spike any new effort to set a timetable for a U.S. pullout. His Republican allies in the House said the new measure has no chance of passage.

But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said Thursday's mixed report on the progress of the war shows it's time for American troops to come home.

"President Bush continues to urge patience, but what is needed -- and what the American people are demanding -- is a new direction," she said.

Earlier Thursday, Bush said a report on U.S.-set benchmarks for Iraq shows "satisfactory progress" in eight areas. He admitted that there is "more work to be done."

Naturally, we should withdraw. Sounds like a broken record.

From CNN

Iraq pullout legislation will be vetoed, Bush says

President Bush will veto a defense appropriations bill being debated in the Senate if it includes an amendment setting a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, the White House said Tuesday.

Senate Democratic leaders have said they plan to bring forward an amendment from Sens. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, and Carl Levin, D-Michigan, that calls for beginning a redeployment of U.S. troops in as little as four months, to be completed by next spring. House Democratic leaders announced late Tuesday that they would bring a similar proposal to a vote by the end of the week.

Naturally, we should withdraw.

Webb amendment vote

Senators on Wednesday refused to bring to a vote an amendment written by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Virginia, that would set time limits between U.S. troop rotations in Iraq and Afghanistan, to give troops more time at home.

The tally was 56 to 41, failing to receive the 60 votes required to cut off debate on the amendment so a vote could be held.

Republicans voting for cloture:
• Sen. Norm Coleman, Minnesota
• Sen. Susan Collins, Maine
• Sen. Chuck Hagel, Nebraska
• Sen. Gordon Smith, Oregon
• Sen. Olympia Snowe, Maine
• Sen. John Sununu, New Hampshire
• Sen. John Warner, Virginia

Indepdents voting against cloture:
• Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Connecticut

Senators not voting:
• Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas
• Sen. Tim Johnson, D-South Dakota
• Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana

Naturally, we should withdraw.


CBS News has the same sort of stories here...

I agree with this statement:

Quote: "I don't think Congress ought to be running the war. I think they ought to be funding the troops."-President Bush


NRO:

Left's Cries Of Support Ring Hollow

"...Which brings me to Iraq, the American soldiers involved, the antiwar crowd which condemns their efforts — yet contend they support the troops — and the feverish waving of the interim assessment of progress — or the lack thereof — being made on the ground (which began days before the assessment’s release, and two months before Gen. David Petraeus is to formally report on the status of operations and progress in Iraq)..."

Quote: "I believe the Left’s approach to supporting the troops is utterly disingenuous and condescending."

Naturally, we should withdraw.


Naturally, we should withdraw. The "real surge" has started about 3 weeks ago and 18 benchmarks have not been met. 8 of the 18 have, in 3 weeks. There we have that Instant Success Syndrome again.

Naturally, we should withdraw.

As Wake Up Americans posted this morning:

Initial Benchmark Assessment Report : Iraq-UPDATE Congress cowards are back on the merry-go-round, VETO time again.

And then this afternoon...

Congressional Merry Go Round

And Miss Beth has this to say:

Brought to You by The "Religion of Peace."

Iran begins executions for adultery and other violations
By Nazila Fathi
Tuesday, July 10, 2007

TEHRAN: The Iranian government confirmed Tuesday that a man was executed by stoning last week for committing adultery, and said that 20 more men would be executed in the coming days on morality violations.

A judiciary spokesman, Alireza Jamshidi, told reporters on Tuesday that a death sentence by stoning had been carried out last week near the city of Takestan, west of Tehran, despite an order by the chief of the judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Shahroudi, not to permit such executions.

"The verdict was final, and so it was carried out for the man but not for the woman," the ISNA news agency quoted Jamshidi as saying.

He said the 20 additional executions were for such things as "rape, insulting religious sanctities and laws, and homosexuality." Most executions in Iran are hangings, often in public and at the scenes of the alleged crimes.

The police arrested about 1,000 people in May during a so-called morality crackdown. Jamshidi said 15 more men were being tried on similar charges and could receive death sentences.

The daily newspaper Etemad Melli reported Monday that Jaffar Kiani, 47, who had been convicted of adultery, was executed by stoning on Thursday in the cemetery of a small village near Takestan. "Villagers said the sentence was carried out by the local judge and authorities," the newspaper reported.

Kiani and his partner, Mokarameh Ebrahimi, 43, who has two children, were scheduled to die on June 21, but the execution was put off by Ayatollah Shahroudi.

The liberal left in this country should take note. Gay Pride Parades and the decadent lifestyles of homosexuals are not tolerated by Islam.


NATURALLY, WE SHOULD WITHDRAW.