Sunday, February 24, 2008

TOPPLING THE OIL CARTELS

Zubrin
Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Robert Zubrin, the president of Pioneer Astronautics and also president of the Mars Society. For many years he worked as a senior engineer for Lockheed Martin. In addition, he is the author of the critically acclaimed nonfiction books The Case for Mars, Entering Space, Mars on Earth; the science fiction novels The Holy Land and First Landing; and articles in Scientific American, The New Atlantis, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Mechanical Engineering, and The American Enterprise. He has appeared on major media including CNN, CSPAN, the BBC, the Discovery Channel, NBC, ABC, and NPR. He is the author of the new book, Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil.

FP: Robert Zubrin, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

Zubrin: Thank you for inviting me.

FP: What inspired you to write this book?

Zubrin: For the past two decades, I have devoted most of my engineering work towards advancing the space program. However the events of September 11, 2001 caused me to give pause and think about what I might be able to do to help out here on Earth. Then, as I researched the problem, it because very apparent that the terror cult was being promoted by Middle eastern tyrannies using oil money, which is to say our money, and that this is what had to be addressed if the war on terror was to be won.

You know there is an old aphorism, "there are three things necessary to wage war: money, money, and yet more money." Well, the same is true of jihad. So consider the following. In 1972, the USA paid out $4 billion for oil imports, an amount equal to 1.2% of our defense budget at that time. Last year, we paid $260 billion - which was half of what we paid for national defense! Over the same period, Saudi oil revenues have grown in direct parallel from $2.7 billion in 1972 to $200 billion in 2006, and this year are likely to exceed $300 billion. And if something isn't done to break the oil cartel, the situation is likely to get much worse, because with China and India industrializing, world demand for fuel is going up, and OPEC is in position to exploit this to effect further radical price hikes -- in fact they've raised prices 50% this year alone. We are financing a war against ourselves, and the way things are going, we will soon be paying the enemy more than we are paying our own military.

Furthermore, the situation is even worse, because as a result of our dependence on enemy oil, we cannot effectively strike back at them. Take the Iranian nuclear bomb program, for example. We could shut it down in an afternoon just by striking their very vulnerable oil export terminal at Kharg Island. No oil exports = no cash = no nuclear bomb program. But we can't do that right now because of the effect on the world economy of a shutdown of Persian Gulf oil. The same is true in our dealing with the Saudis. In effect, they are using their own fragility as a shield against us, saying "you can't hit us because we have a glass jaw." And, given our dependence on them, the ploy works. But take away that dependence, and we can dictate terms to them.

So the battle for energy security is the decisive front in the war on terror. And that is an area where I, as an engineer, believe I have something to contribute.

FP: Expand for us on how Americans are funding radical Islam by buying gas.

Zubrin: Saudi Arabia is the largest recipient of international oil revenues, over two trillion dollars in the past three decades, and, as documented by numerous sources cited in my book, they have used a substantial fraction of this cash to finance a global effort to spread Wahhabi totalitarian cult ideology. They have funded a whole alphabet soup of front organizations such as the MWL, the WAMY, and the IIRO, for this purpose, as well as to directly fund terrorist groups, and have set up over 20,000 madrasses outside of Saudi Arabia to teach millions of young boys that the way to paradise is to kill Christians, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists, Taoists, animists, humanists, etc. It was the graduates of this indoctrination effort who killed 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001, and thousands of our troops in Iraq in the period since. But they've killed plenty of other people too, in countries ranging from Biafra and the Sudan, to former Soviet central Asia, to Indonesia and the Philippines, where vicious attacks on Buddhists and Christians are ongoing.

Then there is Iran, a terror state which receives the majority of its income from oil. It is oil money that is funding Hezbollah, an Iranian terror asset which is now setting up bases in Latin America, by the way. It is oil money that is funding the Iranian nuclear bomb program, which could give those Hezbollah operatives the weapon they need to inflict mass destruction on their potential victims- which will soon include not only Israeli or European cities, but targets in the Western Hemisphere as well.

Read it all.

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Tuesday, February 19, 2008

INSIDE THE STEALTH INVASION

In a note from an intelligent fellow known as FidesEtRatio, we once again seize the opportunity to poke a hole large enough to drive a tractor through this lie known as "the vast conspiracy against Islam' that is fueling our enemies:

When I first heard about the cartoons, two years ago, my initial response, as a graduate student in Religious Studies, taught good Leftist values throughout my various degrees, was to think that the cartoonists had crossed a line. Then, we began to hear of people calling for the death of the cartoonists, of riots in London, Paris, and elsewhere, all over a dozen or so political cartoons. It was the violent response of Muslims to these cartoons that made me reconsider the Leftist values I've been brought up, which led me to make a sharp turn to the Right.

I would love to say that Islam is a Religion of Peace (TM), but the fact is that the evidence does not support this contention. The more I learn, and the more I experience, the more frightened I become. At the university where I study and teach, a group of Muslim students—thugs, really—found a loophole in the electoral process for the Presidency of the Graduate Student Association, such that, five of them, wielding hundreds of proxy votes obtained through intimidation and outright lies, had more voting power than all the other graduate students combined! They managed to elect one of their own as President. He then attempted to force through a change to our drug plan that would allow only married women to receive compensation for oral contraceptives, and to shut down the Graduate Student Pub, which is owned and operated by the Graduate Student Association. What was their justfication for this move? That monies collected from their tuition fees should not go to things that violate their moral code.

People who opposed them were accused of being motivated by hatred of Muslims. These charges went before the University's Human Rights and Equity Services, which ruled that there was no substance to the accusations of hating Muslims, and that, in fact, those who brought the charges had to issue a public apology for the slander. Likewise, none of their amendments went through: the insurance company that carries our drug plan could not legally discriminate on the basis of marital status, and there was too much popular support for the pub. However, for months, our Graduate Student Association was practically shut down by five men, who were explicitly motivated by the promotion of Muslim values to Islamify our heathen Graduate Student Association. We lost tens of thousands of dollars due to mismanagement, etc., as they carried out their Jihad.

This is different from the cartoon controversy only insofar as they used proxy votes instead of guns and vandalism to get power, and that, again, they used verbal and physical intimidation and guile instead of guns and vandalism to obtain said proxies. It convinced me, however, that with many (not necessarily all) Muslim we are dealing with less than rational folk who are prepared to use any means available to press their Islamicist agendas. I have little doubt, too, that they would have used guns and vandalism if they thought it would have been deemed necessary and effective. Only the fact that it was neither prevented them from doing so.

As I posted elsewhere, do I hate Muslims? No. Do I fear them? Yes, absolutely. The fact is, the Jihad is not just on our TVs. It is in our schools, our neighbourhoods, our places of employment. We are at war, and many of our neighbours are siding with the enemy. We ignore this at our own risk.

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Thursday, February 14, 2008

DECONSTRUCTING BOB

Dylan, Paine
Self-confessed former and often radical lefty, and who isn't in one's formative wonder bread years just off the dirt farm, Sean Cumyn, is writing a book on the political and moral themes found in the work of Bob Dylan. He also runs a remarkably understated website called Right Wing Bob. Here in the Weekly Standard is a thoroughly enjoyable article penned by Cumyn. A little taste of what is surely to follow. Hacks and hatchet men on the Left are already complaining that colonial patriot and First Citizen, Tom Paine has been co-opted by the Right. And I'm sure the same reactionary outcry will be hoisted when Dylan is revealed to be of solid mind firmly set in the quintessential moral values of timeless conservatism as opposed to those often impenetrable and oscillating birth pangs of the impetuous Left.

Mr. Cumyn writes:

A good deal of hoopla greeted the grizzled rock-musician Neil Young's musical assault on George W. Bush earlier this year. His album Living With War included a hundred-voice choir singing a song entitled "Let's Impeach the President." For those survivors of anti-Vietnam war protests, and their younger would-be imitators, it was a moment for a sharp intake of breath and the tantalizing hope that maybe now, after all, music really could change the world. I mean, everyone has to sit up and take notice of Neil Young, right?

Young's crusading album included another song called "Flags of Freedom," in which he gave a name-check to Bob Dylan, and adapted the melody of Dylan's own somewhat more lyrically complex song "Chimes of Freedom."

He really should have known better. In an interview several months later with Edna Gundersen in USA Today, Dylan was asked about the absence of any song about the current war on his own latest album, Modern Times.

"Didn't Neil Young do that?" he jokes . . . "What's funny about the Neil record, when I heard 'Let's Impeach the President,' I thought it was something old that had been lying around. I said, 'That's crazy, he's doing a song about Clinton?'"

With his sly and somewhat wicked response, Dylan had (1) desperately frustrated the considerable number of more obvious Dylan fans who have been waiting on the edge of a cliff for him to say or sing something—anything!—against President Bush and the Iraq war and (2) told Neil Young none-too-subtly that he found his recent ultrapolitical songwriting essentially pointless.

Somehow, after over 40 years of evidence to the contrary, much of the world seems to continue to expect the man who is arguably America's greatest songwriter to sign on to left/liberal causes at the first opportunity. If nothing else, it is proof that in attempting to kidnap Dylan's songs (in Dylan's own words, his songs were "subverted into polemics" in the 1960s), the left succeeded in convincing the average person that both the work and the man did, indeed, belong to them.

In the summer run-up to the 2004 presidential campaign, a concert tour of anti-Bush musicians was being organized, led by Bruce Springsteen. They would perform in swing states in support of John Kerry. The advance press regarding the tour always prominently mentioned Bob Dylan as one of the musicians being talked about for the lineup. There was no surprise about this expressed in the stories; after all, campaigning against Republican presidents is what Bob Dylan has always done, isn't it? But when dates and lineups were finally announced for the "Vote for Change" tour, one name was prominently missing: that of Bob Dylan.

And indeed, any scrutiny of the record would show that he has never endorsed a political candidate (although some political candidates have endorsed him). The closest he has ever come would be the statement in his memoir, Chronicles, that his "favorite politician" circa 1961 was Barry Goldwater.

Read it all.

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Wednesday, February 13, 2008

THIS OLDE INVASION OF INCHES



An ACT! for America supporter in New York recently came across a group of Muslims who were handing out flyers. She got in line to take one and alerted us to what was being distributed.

We direct you to www.revolutionmuslim.com.

On the home page you will see at the top right a drawing of an automatic weapon that appears to be an AK-47. Scroll down the home page and you will read the following:

“Our mission is to one day see the Muslims united under one Khalifah and under the commands of Allah (SWT).”

[This is part of the worldwide agenda of militant Islam: to establish sharia law and unite the “umma” – the Muslim world – under one ruler, the caliph. Implicit in this, but not stated, is the rule of Islam over all people, as this is the only path to world “peace.”]

“We pray that we may witness the dismantlement of western, secular dominance across the world as we hold it to be pagan and idolatrous in the majority of its presumptions. We seek a resurrection of the just example set forth by centuries of Islamic rule throughout the ages and we hold it to be self evident for the objective soul and mind that Allah is One and that Muhammad ibn Abdullah is His Prophet and that the religion offers the solution to all of the world’s ills and afflictions.”

[This is the call for the destruction of democratic governments and the establishment of the political rule of Islam.]

In the “Radical Review”, January 2008, Volume 1, we read:

“Rise up and ride the peak of Revolution, the time has come to triumph over those that wish to deceive…Rise Up Ya Muslimeen!”

It is important to emphasize that this is not an Islamic organization in the Middle East, but in New York City. And, if their “hit” counter is to be believed, over 769,000 people have visited their website.

Yesterday, we laid out an ambitious, aggressive plan for ACT! for America to go on the offensive against the rising tide of Islamofascism that threatens us. Earlier today, our sister organization, American Congress for Truth, sent out an email describing Stephen Coughlin’s analysis of the Muslim Brotherhood memorandum that calls for “civilization Jihad” — the destruction of Western civilization from within.

We are not fabricating these threats. We are not exaggerating these threats. They are real — and growing. It is going to take an organized, aggressive effort to begin rolling back these threats. It is going to require action on the part of all of us who are now informed as to what we are up against. After all, if we don’t act, who will?

Some of you reading this email have already responded with a financial contribution to help fund the 120 day campaign Brigitte Gabriel announced yesterday. To those of you who have, THANK YOU!

If you haven’t yet acted, can we count on you to act today? Please click here to make an online contribution for this 120 day campaign. As of 9:00 A.M. this morning we are 17% of the way to our goal. Your response today will help us reach it.

It’s so easy for us Americans to think that what is happening in the Middle East won’t touch us, or that the “cultural Jihad” that has overwhelmed Great Britain could not possibly happen here.

That’s precisely what militant Muslims hope we will think. I’m sure that’s what many British citizens thought, fifteen years ago. Now they witness the Archbishop of Canterbury stating that the imposition of Islamic sharia law in Great Britain is “unavoidable” and necessary for “social cohesion.”

Abraham Lincoln once wrote that America, if she is ever destroyed, would not be destroyed from an enemy from “without” – an invader – but from an enemy from “within.” We are wise to consider those words in the light of what is already happening here in America.

Thank you for your support and for your love of America. We’ll keep you posted on the progress of our 120 day campaign over the next several days.

Guy Rodgers
Executive Director

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Monday, February 11, 2008

INFILTRATOR GETS PENTAGON BOOT



In a stunning turn of events, a high-level Muslim military aide blamed for costing an intelligence contractor his job will step down from his own Pentagon post. Three cheers for rational thought!

Meanwhile, his rival, Maj. Stephen Coughlin, a leading authority on Islamic war doctrine, may stay in the Pentagon, moving from the office of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the office of the secretary of defense. However, sources say a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey is trying to block his new contract.

The top Pentagon aide, Egyptian-born Hesham H. Islam, came under a cloud of suspicion after reports raised doubt about his resume and contacts he had made with radical Muslims. He is expected to leave the government next month, officials say.

Read it all.

Reality is peeking through the clouds. A senior U.S. official says the life story Islam presented now appears sketchy.

"His resume didn't add up, and he knows it," the official said. "He's voluntarily leaving the government in March."

At the same time, a report by terror expert Steven Emerson revealed that Islam, as special assistant to the deputy secretary of defense, has scheduled at least two meetings in the Pentagon with Syrian-tied radicals – including a leading member of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood – in direct violation of U.S. policy.

As previously reported, FBI officials believe Islam is involved with the U.S. branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and is helping its front groups run "influence operations" against the U.S. government.

"He's a Muslim brother," an FBI official told the press. "He's a bad actor, and he's made other unreported nefarious contacts."

In addition to his close encounters with Gordon England, his immediate supervisor at the Pentagon, Islam has worked closely in the Pentagon with Muslim chaplain Abuhena M. Saifulislam, who received his training at a radical Islamic school in Northern Virginia that was raided by federal authorities after 9/11.

Islam, whose son is active in the military, obtained one of the highest security clearances for classified information. Sources confirm he has sat in on Pentagon meetings in which intelligence clearance was restricted at the Top Secret/SCI (Sensitive Compartmented Information) level.

The Pentagon had no comment. And Islam, who has not been accused of any crimes, has refused interviews.

Terrorism expert, Steve Emerson says Islam prescribed a steady diet of Muslim Brotherhood-connected outreach for his unwitting boss, deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England. Pentagon insiders say Eric S. Edelman, undersecretary of defense for policy, has sought to stop the awarding of a new contract to Coughlin. Edelman served as ambassador to Turkey from 2003 to 2005.

Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., who co-chairs the House Anti-Terrorism Caucus, has been fighting to keep Coughlin in the Pentagon, where she says his blunt analysis of the Islamic enemy is sorely needed, "I know that some people will refuse to admit there is a subversive movement going on here, but let me remind you that we have underestimated the will and capability of our enemy for more than 30 years," she added. "They are patient and determined to achieve their radical agenda."

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Friday, February 08, 2008

MITT ROMNEY SUSPENDS CAMPAIGN

Why did this man wait so long to give THIS speech, And I'm not talking about the "suspension" or "concession" clause at the end of the speech, announcing his withdrawal from the active campaign. I'm talking about his strong point by point delivery of conservative values and conservative issues, a clear vision riveting with details that make sense to those of us unafraid to acknowledge those principles. Mitt Romney was the only candidate (other than the more intellectually diminutive Tom Tancredo) who really gets it. His speech at CPAC yesterday nailed the Islamofascist enemy in our midst and abroad...

"...And finally, let's consider the greatest challenge facing America – and facing the entire civilized world: the threat of violent, radical Jihad. In one wing of the world of Islam, there is a conviction that all governments should be destroyed and replaced by a religious caliphate. These Jihadists will battle any form of democracy. To them, democracy is blasphemous for it says that citizens, not God shape the law. They find the idea of human equality to be offensive. They hate everything we believe about freedom just as we hate everything they believe about radical Jihad."

He knows the enemy, is not afraid to name them, and has obviously spent a bit of time developing a cogent plan to deal with it...

"To battle this threat, we have sent the most courageous and brave soldiers in the world. But their numbers have been depleted by the Clinton years when troops were reduced by 500,000, when 80 ships were retired from the Navy, and when our human intelligence was slashed by 25%. We were told that we were getting a peace dividend. We got the dividend, but we didn't get the peace. In the face of evil in radical Jihad and given the inevitable military ambitions of China, we must act to rebuild our military might – raise military spending to 4% of our GDP, purchase the most modern armament, re-shape our fighting forces for the asymmetric demands we now face, and give the veterans the care they deserve..."

Let's face it. McCain talks big, but is a lightweight when it comes to marshalling details. He thinks he's Ronald Reagan. Come to tghink of it, his voice does waver a bit like Reagan's did in the latter years of his tour of duty. But is that enough. Aren't we looking for a real communicator once again. And McCain is no communicator. That much is clear with all his "my friends" and other talking point repetitions. And even in his early primary victory speeches he literally had to look down and read his enthusiam off the page.

Today was sad day for America. Hopefully we can hold our borders together and not limp our way to becoming another France or Great Britain in four years.

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