CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Sunday Show Video Roundup (March 30)

The following video roundup of sound bites from Sunday's talking head shows sums up recent developments in the presidential campaign. This week it was all about whether Hillary should withdraw or fight on:

I was surprised there was no mention of Democratic deserters voting for McCain.

Saudis Preparing For Nuclear Fallout

Venomous Kate has an interesting post about the Saudis preparations for "sudden nuclear and radioactive hazards."

Kate also notes some interesting and familiar sounding military positioning plus sanctions:

• Last week, a U.S. nuclear sub joined the fleet stationed in the Persian Gulf.

• On land, Russian sources say the U.S. is currently massing forces on the ian border.

• Today the U.S. announced plans to sanction ’s Central Bank for funding state-sponsored terrorism.

Read the whole thing.

Like Cheney, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell has tried to undo some of the political and diplomatic damage done by the NIE:

During his February 5, 2008 testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell tried to undo some of the political and diplomatic damage done by the NIE:

Not only did McConnell testify that the Islamic Republic was working to master the enrichment of uranium--"the most difficult challenge in nuclear production"--but he also acknowledged that, "because of intelligence gaps," the U.S. government could not be certain that the ian government had fully suspended its covert nuclear programs. "We assess with high confidence that has the scientific, technical, and industrial capacity eventually to produce nuclear weapons," he testified. "In our judgment, only an ian political decision to abandon a nuclear weapons objective would plausibly keep from eventually producing nuclear weapons--and such a decision is inherently reversible."

McConnell, appearing on the February 17, 2008 edition of "Fox News Sunday," Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said could have a nuclear weapon next year:

WALLACE: Finally, you have dialed back on the recent national intelligence estimate that reported that gave up its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

In fact, you said you wish you had the opportunity to redo the public presentation. Do you feel that the NIE understated the threat from ?

MCCONNELL: No. Chris, if the words in the NIE were correct, what I think we probably didn't do an adequate job on is reflecting — there are three parts to a nuclear program.

You have to have fissile material. You have to have a means to deliver a weapon. And you have to have the technical — to design a weapon.

The only thing that they terminated in 2003 was the design feature of the weapon. They're still pursuing fissile material. They're still pursuing missiles for delivery.

As it turns out, though, the hardest part is fissile material. The easiest part is weapons design. So when I testified on the Hill recently, the attempt was to put it in context.

WALLACE: So are you saying that and its uranium enrichment program and what that could lead to is as much of a threat as it ever was?

MCCONNELL: I am saying that. And I believe that the path they were on to achieve nuclear weapons has not been significantly changed because they terminated this technical design feature.

They can turn it on. Remember, it was secret. They've never admitted it. They could have turned it back on now and we wouldn't necessarily know. We'll try to know, but we're not 100 percent sure of that.

WALLACE: And the time frame for them to get the ability to make a nuclear bomb?

MCCONNELL: We've done an estimate in 2001, 2005 and 2007, and each time it says the same thing. They could do it by 2009 — unlikely. The range is 2010 to 2015. And the best guess is about the middle range there for having a nuclear weapon.

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert believes that could have "a nuclear weapons capacity" in a few months.

McCain's Cause Is Our Country

Senator McCain, the Republican Presidential nominee to be, is on a biography tour. He will travel through five states that he says were part of his "formative experiences," and reintroduce himself to voters.

As the biography tour began the campaign released the following web ad "Character Forged by Family:"

Speaking in Meridian, Mississippi, McCain focused on childhood memories and how his upbringing and his family's military history shaped his views for the future:

McCain said his family instilled in him the values of duty, honor and sacrifice at an early age.

"The family I was born into -- the family I am blessed with now -- made me the man I am," he said.

McCain also paid respect to his father and grandfather, both of whom were four-star admirals.

"They were my first heroes, and their respect for me has been one of the most lasting ambitions of my life," McCain said. "They gave their lives to their country, and taught me lessons about honor, courage, duty, perseverance and leadership that I didn't fully grasp until later in life, but remembered when I needed them most."

Contrast McCain's campaign to the negative "knife fight" being waged between Hillary and Obama to be the nominee of a Democratic Party that is no longer willing to "pay any price, bear any burden."

Obama Turns The Table

The Wall Street Journal reports Democratic Party leaders, fearful that the ever increasingly negative campaign between Hillary and Obama has become too toxic and prospect of Democratic deserters voting for Senator McCain, have begun to take Obama's side and pressure Hillary to give up:

North Carolina's seven Democratic House members are poised to endorse Sen. Obama as a group -- just one has so far -- before that state's May 6 primary, several Democrats say.

Obama was endorsed by Minnesota freshman Senator Amy Klobuchar Sunday night, giving him another superdelegate supporter:

"My endorsement reflects both Barack's strong support in my state and my own independent judgment about his abilities," Klobuchar said.

Klobuchar endorsement follows Friday's endorsement of Obama by Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey. Casey's endorsement was an unexpected boon for Obama. Casey had repeatedly declared that he would remain neutral in Pennsylvania's April 22 primary.

The Clintons remain determined to fight on, all the way to the convention, if necessary. Former president Clinton met privately with about 16 California superdelegates Sunday and urged them not to decide between Hillary and Obama prematurely and "deny voters in upcoming states the chance for their votes to count:"

Don't let anybody tell you that somehow we are weakening the Democratic Party. Chill out and let everybody have their say.

Obama is playing the good cop as Democratic Part leaders call on Hillary to quit, telling reporters:

My attitude is that Sen. Clinton can run as long as she wants.

Obama can afford to appear magnanimous here. As long as his campaign is picking off more of the 350 remaining undecided superdelegates and Party leaders pressure the Clintons to withdraw, the Democrats' fuzzy delegate math, offers little hope to Hillary.

It's No Longer Your Father's Democratic Party

Appearing on ABC's "This Week," Senator Joe Lieberman, the Democratic Party's Vice Presidential nominee in 2000, succinctly described the sad devolution of the Democratic Party:

Well, I say that the Democratic Party changed.

The Democratic Party today was not the party it was in 2000. It's not the Bill Clinton-Al Gore party, which was strong internationalists, strong on defense, pro-trade, pro-reform in our domestic government. It's been effectively taken over by a small group on the left of the party that is protectionist, isolationist and basically will --and very, very hyperpartisan. So it pains me.

I'm a Democrat who came to the party in the era of President John F. Kennedy. It's a strange turn of the road when I find among the candidates running this year that the one, in my opinion, closest to the Kennedy legacy, the John F. Kennedy legacy, is John S. McCain.

Watch the following video of the exchange between Senator Lieberman and George Stephanopoulos:

Michael Scherer gets it very wrong when he attributes Lieberman's critique to revenge against the antiwar radicals who rebelled against Senator Liberal during his reelection campaign in 2006. The Senator was reelected because he has taken a strong principled stand seeking victory in the war the Islamic extremists continue to wage against America. It's really too bad the Democratic Party is now controlled by the same type of left-wing Liberal/Progressive radicals that tried, and failed, to defeat Senator Lieberman. Lieberman's description of the small left-wing cabal that has steered the Democratic Party away from Kennedy's "pay any price, bear any burden," is exactly right.

He's my Senator and I'm glad he is.

Gore Can't Save The Dems

Plans are afoot for Al Gore to be handed the Democratic presidential nomination and save the bitterly divided party:

Two former Gore campaign officials have told The Sunday Telegraph that a scenario first mapped out by members of Mr. Gore's inner circle last May now has a sporting chance of coming true.

[. . .]

The opening has emerged because opinion polls show Mr. McCain stretching his lead over both Mr Obama and Mrs. Clinton, whose campaigns are engaged in a daily cycle of attacks, character assassination and mutual recriminations on religion, race and the economy.

The Gore backers are also concerned about the prospect of Democratic deserters -- the significant number of Democrats who will vote for McCain if he is matched against the candidate they do not support for the Democratic nomination.

The Gore plot won't save the Democrats. According to a new Rasmussen Reports poll, Democratic primary voters prefer even Hillary and Obama over Gore.

Fitna - Part 1 (English Version)

Fitna is a film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders. The movie offers his view on Islam and the Qur'an. The film's title comes from the Arabic word fitna which is used to describe "disagreement and division among people," or a "test of faith in times of trial."

The film was released on March 27, 2008 on the video website Liveleak. Liveleak subsequently received threats to their staff, and decided to remove the video.

In the film, Suras are juxtaposed to video clips of Imams stating Islamic teaching, and videos of violent atrocities committed in the name of Islam, including major terrorist attacks.

The first Sura used in the film, Al-Anfal verse 60[8:60], translates as:

Prepare for them whatever force and cavalry ye are able of gathering, to strike terror, to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies, of Allah and your enemies.

The Sura is juxtaposed to footage of the September 11, terrorist attacks in New York, followed by the Madrid train bombings. An Imam rises above the smoke and declares "Allah is happy when non-Muslims get killed." Still pictures taken from the 7 July 2005 London bombings show an exploded bus and Underground train.

The next Sura, An-Nisa verse 56[4:56], is shown as a justification for Islamic antisemitism. An Imam raising a sword declares:

A Jew is hiding behind me, come and cut off his head. And we shall cut off his head! By Allah, we shall cut it off! Oh Jews! Allahu Akbar! Jihad for the sake of Allah!

Then a three year old Muslim girl, named Basmallah, calls Jews "apes and pigs" during an interview on Saudi Arabian television. More antisemitism is shown by another Imam, who states: "The Jews are Jews. They are the ones who must be butchered and killed." Child soldiers are shown uniformed and holding guns.

Sura 47, verse 4[47:4] is shown in relation to the murder of Dutch film director Theo Van Gogh. The murderer is reported as saying:

If I had the opportunity to get out of prison, and I had the opportunity to do it again, what I did on November 2nd, Allah I would have done exactly the same.

Protesters are shown supporting Van Gogh's murder, warning others to heed the lesson or "pay with your blood".

Dutch newspaper headlines are reproduced, outlining intimidating threats of murder to prominent questioners of Islam, followed by footage of Jack Hensley's beheading.

You can watch it below:

McCain's Service Matters

Yesterday I took Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, to task for calling John McCain an opportunist for using images of his military service.

Jack Tapper points out that Dean saw things differently in 2004, when he thought military service was less opportunistic:

"The real issue is this," Dean said in March 2004, when endorsing formal rival Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., "Who would you rather have in charge of the defense of the United States of America, a group of people who never served a day overseas in their life, or a guy who served his country honorably and has three Purple Hearts and a Silver Star on the battlefields of Vietnam?"

McCain has been awarded the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, two Bronze Star Medals, a Purple Heart and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Can anyone say "Yeaaaahhhhhhghhhh"

Via Jack Givens at Ft. Hard Knox and Kevin Gregory at McClatchy Watch.

Hillary Refuses To Quit

Hillary defies calls from pundits and party elders for her to quit the race and back Obama:

"There are millions of reasons to continue this race: people in Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina, and all of the contests yet to come," Clinton told reporters Friday. "This is a very close race and clearly I believe strongly that everyone should have their voices heard and their votes counted."

[. . .]

"There are some people who are saying, you know, we really ought to end this primary, we just ought to shut it down," she said in Mishawaka, Ind., drawing cries of "No, no!" inside a packed gymnasium.

[. . .]

I look forward to campaigning over the next several months.

The Democrat's fuzzy delegate math continues to make a Hillary nomination a long shot. She trails Obama among pledged delegates and is not expected to close that gap even if she does well in the 10 remaining primaries. She also trails in the popular vote and probably cannot make up the deficit without do overs in Michigan and Florida, whose Democratic voters were disenfranchised by the Democratic party.

There seems little doubt that the Democratic nomination will be decided by "superdelegates" -- some 800 elected officials and party insiders who can support any candidate for the nomination. Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, told CBS News that the superdelegates need to decide whether Hillary or Obama gets the Democratic nomination before July. Dean wants to avoid the appearance that the Democratic nominee was chosen in a back room deal by party insiders even though that is exactly what they will do.

You can listen to Vermont Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy's call for Hillary to quit in the following video report from MSNBC's Don Abrams:

Arab Muslim Troops Fight For Coalition In Afghanistan

Muslim troops from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), an Arab country, have been operating in Afghanistan as part of the United States-led coalition for five years.

Their role is mainly humanitarian, but the Emirati troops have been involved in full-scale military operations -- taking part in dangerous missions alongside US troops and, on occasion, fighting their way out of Taleban ambushes.

We try to convince the people about the US, about British. They came here to give you peace.
UAE Maj Ghanem al-Mazroui

As fellow Muslims, the Emirati troops get a warm reception from Afghan villagers:

"At first I thought these were American soldiers and I wanted them to leave but when they said they were Muslims I knew they were our brothers," a young Afghan man says.

The Emiratis are not the only Arab troops working with the Afghan coalition. Jordanian forces have been carrying out some base security duties.

The fact that an Arab Muslim army has been operating alongside Americans in Afghanistan for five years is a surprise. Until now, the Emirati deployment has been kept so secret that not even their own countrymen knew they were here. I'm glad the cat is out of the bag. Maybe we will see more Muslim assistance in the struggle against Islamic extremists.