Freedom Freaks Speak Out

Syria attack staged?

SANA, the Syrian news agency, reported that the security forces had matters under control within hours. It first said that three men were captured and one fled the scene, then they recanted and said that three were dead and one was captured. Reports from Syria also claim that a Syrian security agent and a woman died during the attack.

No explanation was given as to who might the assailants be or why they would attack an empty building in Mazza where foreign embassies and ambassadors' residences are located nearby. Reports that it could be the work of al-Qaeda were also discounted given that al-Qaeda rarely get caught and that their targets are usually large with large explosives. Further, al-Qaeda attempted to use explosives with chemical weapons that came from Syria to attack Jordanian targets so why would al-Qaeda not use the same spectacular targets and means of delivery inside Damascus?

The only explanation one finds in this bizarre episode is that the whole event might have been staged by the security apparatus of the Syrian regime for the sole reason to offset the mounting pressure on the regime. Such an event can provide a credible cover under which Baschar al-Assad can make claim to the importance work his ruthless and autocratic regime serves to protect western interests.

# posted by Rich @ 10:08 PM

HE WHO HESITATES (Peters)

# posted by Rich @ 10:00 PM

Democrats push registration to get out the angry voter

# posted by Rich @ 9:37 PM

RCP Commentary (great stuff)

...by the time the candidates stand up and debate in October there is going to be little discernable difference between the two on Iraq, the fervent antiwar activists in the base may find themselves with nowhere to go but Nader.

That assumes, of course, that in the end the activists' hatred for the war in Iraq trumps their hatred of George W. Bush. I don't think there is any way of predicting whether this will occur.

The one thing you can predict, however, is that John Kerry will do his best to keep the base behind him. The result will most likely be one of the great political kabuki dances of modern political history, with Kerry moving to the middle in an effort to prove his strength and national security bona fides to the broader electorate, yet all the while winking and nodding to the base and lacing his rhetoric with the comfortable code words of the antiwar left

# posted by Rich @ 9:31 PM

UN Apologists

# posted by Rich @ 12:39 PM

Russian Muslim leader suggests punishing terrorists’ families

# posted by Rich @ 11:43 AM

The enemy is not America

Via Instapundit

# posted by Rich @ 10:02 AM

Normality is overrated (very interesting reading)

More than anything else human beings want their lives to be significant. The unbearable truth is that the lives of most people who ever lived are insignificant; those of many people who live today threaten to become so. ("I feel so insignificant," said the ant with Woody Allen's voice in Antz. "That's a breakthrough," said the ant psychiatrist. "You are insignificant.") Paranoia inverts this horrifying sense of insignificance. To the paranoid, everything is significant. Powerful forces conspire against him. He imagines himself to be a figure of great importance. Threaten his protective illusion and he may try to kill you. What he cannot bear is the notion that he truly is insignificant.

# posted by Rich @ 9:58 AM

John Kerry can’t even commit to a medal story

# posted by Rich @ 8:41 AM

John Kerry's official site changes words about his medal stance

# posted by Rich @ 8:50 PM

Firebrand Muslim cleric bids to stay in UK

# posted by Rich @ 8:28 PM

Aristotle: Ayn Rand's Acknowledged Teacher

# posted by Rich @ 8:27 PM

Japanese hostages freed in Iraq have been billed for plane tickets home ($21,000.00)

# posted by Rich @ 8:24 PM

Iraqi Group Threatens to Kill Italian Hostages -TV