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Dec. 3, 2008

Steven Emerson: Yes, the terrorists are winning

Don Terry: Lifetime, no see

Dec. 2, 2008

Melanie Phillips: The Mumbai atrocity is a wake-up call for a frighteningly unprepared world

Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report: Strategic Motivations for the Mumbai Attack

Dec. 1, 2008

Max Freidlander, as told to Jacklyn C. Wadler: India Inkings

Mark Steyn: Whodunit!?

Nov. 28, 2008

Rabbi Ahron Rapps: An evil seed that didn't have to be

Melanie Phillips: Carpe diem --- or can we all relax now?

Nov. 26, 2008

Michael Feldberg: Meet the Orthodox Jew who laid groundwork for scientific development of ordnance that undergirds America's current world leadership

Andrea Simantov: Shades of life

Nov. 25, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Getting Emotional For Influence

The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman : Thanksiving feast!

Nov. 24, 2008

Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg: 'I just Became a grandchild!'

Barry Rubin: Don't flatter your enemies, protect your friends

Nov. 21, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Money matters?

Caroline B. Glick: Civilization walks the plank

Nov. 20, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bronfman's blindness

The Kosher Gourmet By Linda Gassenheimer: Portobellos add a hearty flavor to pasta with pesto

Nov, 19, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Spread the wealth? Jewish tradition and income equality

Elliot B. Gertel: 'Mad Men': Tackling prejudices or reinforcing them?

Nov, 18, 2008

Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn: The End of the Age of Reason

Jonathan Tobin: Does Barack + Bibi = Disaster?

Nov, 17, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The End of the Age of Reason

Diana West: Gulling Americans into making terror legit?

Nov, 14, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The Power of Spiritual Inertia

Caroline B. Glick: The perils ahead

Nov, 13, 2008

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: How Bush and Obama together could change the Middle East dynamic

The Kosher Gourmet by JeanMarie Brownson: Sweet and savory, crispy and meltingly tender bestilla

Nov, 12, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Tyrannical Co-Workers

Michael Doyle: High Court to consider today donated monuments that may have religious messages in public parks

Nov, 11, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Will Obama stop government officials considering institutionalizing financial jihad?

Jonathan Tobin: They Will Decide Their Own Fate

Nov, 10, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: $8 billion, modern-day Tower of Babel being built?

Barry Rubin: A letter to the president-elect from a Middle East realist

Nov, 7, 2008

Rabbi Francis Nataf: Of Children and Immortality

Caroline B. Glick: Livni's Obama strategy

Nov, 6, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: How I tricked a classroom of apathetic students into grasping the fallacy of moral relativism

The Kosher Gourmet By Gina Kim: Tips for making the perfect soup --- includes recipes

Nov, 5, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Destitute Debtors

Bruce Weinstein: 'Religulos': Bad title,even worse movie

Nov, 4, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Treasury Dept. submits to Shariah law

Frida Ghitis: A surprise for Obama in the Middle East

Nov, 3, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Who says Jews are Smart?

Jonathan Tobin: Was He Wrong About Everything?

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review April 30, 2007 / 12 Iyar, 5767

Plugging their ears: Dems don't want to hear anything that might alter their views on Iraq

By Jack Kelly

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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are demonstrating they are not ready for prime time. This could cloud what now looks like rosy Democratic electoral prospects next year.


Democrats in Congress have sent to the president a supplemental appropriations bill calling for withdrawal of troops from Iraq beginning in October, which they've known he will veto, raising substantially the already high profile of the issue.


It's remarkable that Democrats, as a matter of policy, are siding with America's enemies in time of war. It didn't work so well for them when they did that during the Civil War. And it is questionable political strategy to make a swift retreat from Iraq the centerpiece of their legislative agenda. But more remarkable is how clumsily Democrats are executing the strategy they've chosen.


Most Americans are sorry we went to war in Iraq, and want to bring our troops home as soon as reasonably possible. Many also (with good reason) question the competence of the Bush administration.


This should give Democrats a substantial advantage in the debate on Iraq policy. But Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid are shifting the focus of that debate from Mr. Bush's shortcomings to the integrity, competence, even the loyalty of the Democrats.


"If I were George Bush right about now, I'd wrap my arms around Harry Reid and give him a great big kiss on the cheek," said Web logger Rick Moran. "And I might even consider sending Speaker Pelosi a dozen roses."


Ms. Pelosi made a trip to Damascus early this month to meet with Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. That trip was panned by the normally Democrat-friendly Washington Post, which said: "Ms. Pelosi's attempt to establish a shadow presidency is not only counterproductive, it is foolish." Ms. Pelosi also expressed a desire to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, until bad press forced a hasty retreat.


This makes absolutely stunning Ms. Pelosi's refusal to meet with Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, when he visited Washington this past week. (She did speak with him on the telephone.) She gives the appearance of being eager to meet with America's enemies anytime, anywhere, but she can't find time in her busy schedule to meet with the commander of our troops.


The bumbling Ms. Pelosi seems almost statesmanlike compared to Sen. Reid, who the dean of Washington political columnists, David Broder, described Thursday as "the Democrats' Gonzales." (Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is being raked over the coals for accepting "complete responsibility" for the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, while professing ignorance of the reasons for their dismissal.)


Mr. Broder blasted Sen. Reid's declaration that the war in Iraq is lost, his clumsy efforts to backtrack and the clearly partisan calculations behind his ever shifting positions: "It has been impossible for his own members, let alone the White House, to sort out more than 24 hours at a time what ground he is prepared to defend," Mr. Broder said.


Describing Sen. Reid as "not a man who misses many opportunities to put his foot in his mouth," Mr. Broder said: "Reid's verbal wanderings on the war in Iraq are consequential — not just for his party and the Senate but for the more important question of what happens to U.S. policy in that violent country and to the men and women whose lives are at stake."


Whether the Democrats' strategy on Iraq leads to success at the polls next year depends less on their rhetoric than on what happens in Iraq. A lot has changed in the last few months.


"I've been struck by the degree to which the debate in Washington seems to be lagging behind the reality in Iraq," said military historian Frederick Kagan, one of the surge's godfathers, who has just returned from a visit there.


We won't know until about midsummer whether apparent improvements since the surge began will last, although it's very good news that sectarian killings in Baghdad have plunged and that nearly all the tribes in Anbar province, once an insurgent stronghold, have banded together to fight al-Qaida. But when Gen. Petraeus came to Washington to report on these developments, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi essentially stuck their fingers in their ears.


Have Democrats invested so much political capital in defeat that good news is as unwelcome to them as news of Sherman's capture of Atlanta was to the Copperhead Democrats in 1864? Is their insistence on precipitous retreat driven by fear we might win?

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JWR contributor Jack Kelly, a former Marine and Green Beret, was a deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration. Comment by clicking here.

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