Free In Idaho!

Remember “Read my lips…”?   Today it’s “it’s NOT amnesty… and I won’t build the fence or enforce the other laws already on the books unless you give it to me.”

This might fit as well if you substitute Idaho and  Senator Larry Craig

Ok, one more time.  Consider this clip from a good Heritage Foundation article on the problems inherent in the amnesty bill “No President Left Behind” time

The comprehensive immigration bill before the U.S. Senate (S. 1639) has been roundly and justly criticized for what it would do up front: grant immediate amnesty to virtually all illegal aliens now in the country and jeopardize U.S. national security. However, that is only half of the problem. S. 1639 would also create a legal morass that would entangle immigration courts, as well as newly created administrative courts, for years to come.

S. 1639 would grant immediate amnesty (in the form of a “probationary” Z visa) to between 12 million and 20 million illegal aliens. According to Section 601 (f)(2) of the bill, the amnesty must begin within 180 days after the bill is signed–no border enforcement triggers need to be met. Under Section 601 (h)(1), the bill allows the government only one business day to conduct a background check to determine whether an applicant is a criminal or a terrorist. Unless the government can find a reason not to grant it by the end of the next business day after the alien applies, the alien receives a probationary Z visa.

The 24-hour requirement is particularly inexplicable, considering that the ombudsman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)–the agency that would implement the amnesty–recently released a report revealing that, even without the tripling of the workload that the amnesty will bring, FBI name checks on aliens seeking benefits routinely take 90 days or more to complete.

From the same article, a little light for Senator Craig

S. 1639 offers an especially sweet deal for illegal agricultural workers once they obtain their Z-A visas. In Section 622 (b), the bill states, “No alien granted a Z-A visa may be terminated from employment by any employer during the period of a Z-A visa except for just cause.”

Employers who dare to fire newly legalized aliens holding Z-A visas would do so at their own peril. The bill would create yet another administrative court system to review complaints by Z-A agricultural workers “who allege that they have been terminated without just cause.” If the administrative hearing officer finds that the alien has established reasonable cause to believe that he was fired without just cause, the alien and the former employer must enter binding arbitration proceedings supervised by an arbitrator whose fees are paid by taxpayers. The burden is on the employer to demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that he fired the alien for just cause.

Remember this for the next election… there are a lot of lessons here.  Homeland Security and National Defense.  Right.  “Read my lips…”

I can hardly wait for 10 or 12 years from now, when George and Hillary! are on the Good Cause Train, just like George and Bill.

The article in the Statesman, via the AP of course, says “Surge of Suicide Blasts in Iraq kills 29″.  Doing their best to liberate the word “surge” from the President and his generals, the AP story only discusses the gloomy news from Iraq of the sort calculated to increase war fatigue and impatience in a reader.   You know, the old “We can’t do anything right over there, and it’s just a waste.  We should quit right now, and bring all our poor young men home.  It’s just a civil war and we shouldn’t take sides,” blah blah blah.  The sidebar suggests related stories like “How MySpace is Changing the Face of the War” and “Al-Sadrs Ambitious Plans”, along with the ever present death count.

SO, in order to find out a more complete picture of what’s going on over there, why not check out what the milbloggers, the Defense Department, and other assorted sources are trying to tell us?  Have you even heard of something called Arrowhead Ripper?  Michael Yon is with the 3-2 in Baqubah where a very large offensive against al Qaeda has been underway the last couple days.  Go read why he says al Qaeda’s only choices there are soon to be Surrender or Die.

The combat in Baqubah should soon reach a peak. Al Qaeda seems to have been effectively isolated. The initial attack on 19 June achieved enough surprise that al Qaeda was caught off guard and trapped. They have been beaten back mostly into pockets and are surrounded and will be dealt with.

How about the DOD?

“The end state is to destroy the al Qaeda influences in this province and eliminate their threat against the people,” said Army Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, deputy commanding general of operations for the 25th Infantry Division. “That is the No. 1, bottom-line, up-front, in-your-face task and purpose.”

About 10,000 soldiers, with a full complement of attack helicopters, close-air support, Strykers and Bradley fighting vehicles, are taking part in Arrowhead Ripper, which is still in its opening stages. Elements of the 1st Cavalry Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team from Fort Hood, Texas, the 2nd Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team from Fort Lewis, Wash., and the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade from Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, also are participating in the operation.

IBDeditorials noted the slanted mainstream coverage of the operation

After getting some initial front-page treatment in major U.S. newspapers, the story was pushed back to page 18 in the Washington Post Thursday and Page 10 in The New York Times on Friday. The Los Angeles Times ran a front pager Thursday, then nothing.

Meanwhile, NPR radio this week highlighted U.S. soldiers’ deaths during the assaults, with nary a mention of the bigger context for the soldiers’ sacrifices.

The Associated Press’ dispatches focused on U.S. casualties: “U.S. military says 15 American troops killed in last 48 hours.” CNN ran with: “12 U.S. troops killed in Iraq in 48 hours.” The New York Times headline read: “14 U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq in 2 Days.”

The Iraq Report over at The Fourth Rail the other morning said

Operation Arrowhead Ripper, the name of the U.S. and Iraqi offensive in Diyala province remains the hottest front in Operation Phantom Thunder, the overarching operation in the Baghdad Belts. Since the start of the operation on June 16, U.S. and Iraqi forces have killed 59 al Qaeda operatives, captured 40, destroyed 28 roadside bombs and 12 booby-trapped buildings, and uncovered 16 weapons caches in Baqubah and the surrounding regions. U.S. and Iraqi forces have begun to distribute aid to civilians in the city.

They’re also reporting that perhaps this isn’t going to result in the big battle against al Qaeda that had been hoped for.  The same report also includes this item

In Mosul, U.S. and Iraqi forces raided “a large factory used to make home-made explosives, improvised explosive devices and vehicle-borne improvisedexplosive devices” after receiving a tip from a local resident on Saturday. Thirty-two insurgents were captured at the site, which “consisted of three separate buildings with one building used to prepare VBIEDs, a second used as an HME/IED factory and the third, a storage area for VBIED and IED-making materials. Each of these buildings was connected by a tunnel that had openings into each part of the structure.”

I’ve heard it said of conservatives that we don’t have open minds… OK, all of you wise and open minded, there is a whole lot more going on in Iraq than suicide bombers and insane clerics.  Put the Statesman down and seek out other voices.  You just might learn why so many people you look down your noses at support our troops and support what they are doing over there.

Remember those purple fingers?  Remember how wonderful it was to think of a people coming out from repression and tasting freedom and self rule for the first time?  Michael Yon this morning reminds us who we fight and updates us on their vision for Iraq

There is much work to do here, especially if the Iraqi Police continue to perform below expectations. The absence of strong local leadership is a large part of the reason AQI was able to move in and set up a shadow government in Baqubah, complete with its own court system, torture house and prison. These three pegs of the AQI justice system have been found here in the past week. The judges who administer Sharia law and issue fatwas are called Muftis. A Mufti is a “high value target” because he would have deep connections in AQI in order to have such a trusted position of power.

Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) had tarnished its name here by publicly attacking and murdering children, videotaping beheadings, all while imposing harsh punishments on Iraqi civilians found guilty of violating morality laws prohibiting activities like smoking. The AQI installed Sharia court had sanctioned the amputation of the two “smoking fingers” for those who violated anti-smoking laws. In part because local sentiment was shifting against it, AQI synthesized with other groups and undertook an image makeover, christening itself “The Islamic State of Iraq.” But the new name was just lipstick on a pig here.

Arrowhead Ripper is still going on.  It, like the whole Iraq action is not going to find a quick, easy, nor cheap ending.  It would be so easy to dismiss it all as “their problem, not ours”… but the real question is “al Qaeda’s vision, or ours?  Sharia, or freedom?” 

Pay attention.