Didn't we already win in Afghanistan? This is tragic:

A huge blast from a suicide car bomb at the gates of the Indian Embassy on Monday killed 41 people in the deadliest suicide car bombing since the American-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 ousted the Taliban.

Among the victims of the attack, the first in seven years on a regional diplomatic mission in Afghanistan, were at least four Indian citizens: the Indian defense attaché, a political counselor and two other Indian officials. Six Afghan police officers were also killed. Many of the rest appeared to be civilians.

The fact that the Indian Embassy was attacked raised suspicions among Afghan officials that Pakistani operatives allied with the Taliban had used the bombing to pursue Pakistan’s decades-long power struggle with India.

Juan Cole covers it...

AP also noted that Sunday's attack came in the wake of pledges of reprisals issued by the Pakistani Taliban because of Pakistani military operations against them in the Khyber area...

The BBC has more...

No-one has admitted being behind the attack, the deadliest in Kabul since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001. Afghanistan has seen a sharp increase in violence, particularly in the south and east - and Taleban militants recently vowed to step up their attacks in the capital. But the latest blast - in what was supposed to be a secure area of Kabul - will greatly concern Afghan government officials, says the BBC's Martin Patience in Kabul.

One of the great orchestrators of our foreign policy and minion of PNAC, had this to say responding to Nancy Pelosi:

" It is possible that the situation in Iraq will worsen over the next year....But it is much more likely that the situation in Iraq will stay more or less the same, or improve."

It is possible that I will win the lottery soon too. If you listen to the reporters that are on the ground that means that the Iraqi's still will not defend their country and more of our troops will die. Certainly, anti-American sentiment will increase throughout the world which will lead to more and more suicide bombings all over the globe.

This is the issue that is keeping the GOP mired in quicksand and will certainly take them down Bill, but you know that already. The problem is that Kristol can't face the fact or admit that PNAC's plan to change the world is an utter failure and has jeopardized the lives of every American tenfold. (via the Washington Monthly)

recovering liberal
Support for suicide bombings and other acts of violence in defense of Islam has dropped since 2002 by 34 percentage points in Lebanon, 12 points in Indonesia and 8 points in Pakistan, according to the latest survey from Pew Global Attitudes Project.

In the poll released last Thursday, about half of Muslims in Lebanon, Jordan and Morocco said that attacks against Americans and their allies are justified.

On a positive note, the poll also showed that confidence in bin Laden has fallen by double-digit margins in Indonesia, Morocco and Lebanon since 2003. In Lebanon, only 2% now express confidence in him. Sadly, this is offset by Jordan and Pakistan, where more than 50% say they that have confidence in him.

Most importantly, in the nine Western nations polled, fears about radical Islam are tied to perceptions of Muslim communities within those countries. Resident Muslims were seen as having a strong and growing sense of Islamic identity, which most of those surveyed see as a bad thing.

In conclusion, while most of those polled in the United States and other Western Nations claim to have favorable views of Muslims, those in predominantly Muslim countries had mixed views of Christians and very negative views of Jews.

Support for suicide bombings and other acts of violence in defense of Islam has dropped since 2002 by 34 percentage points in Lebanon, 12 points in Indonesia and 8 points in Pakistan, according to the latest survey from Pew Global Attitudes Project.

In the poll released last Thursday, about half of Muslims in Lebanon, Jordan and Morocco said that attacks against Americans and their allies are justified.

On a positive note, the poll also showed that confidence in bin Laden has fallen by double-digit margins in Indonesia, Morocco and Lebanon since 2003. In Lebanon, only 2% now express confidence in him. Sadly, this is offset by Jordan and Pakistan, where more than 50% say they that have confidence in him.

Most importantly, in the nine Western nations polled, fears about radical Islam are tied to perceptions of Muslim communities within those countries. Resident Muslims were seen as having a strong and growing sense of Islamic identity, which most of those surveyed see as a bad thing.

In conclusion, while most of those polled in the United States and other Western Nations claim to have favorable views of Muslims, those in predominantly Muslim countries had mixed views of Christians and very negative views of Jews.

Explosions struck three London Underground stations and a bus at midday Thursday in a chilling but less deadly replay of the suicide bombings that killed 56 people two weeks ago. Only one person was reported wounded, but the lunch-hour explosions caused major shock and disruption in the capital and were hauntingly similar to the July 7 bombings by four attackers....read on

More here from the Guardian Unlimited More from the Sun

John Tierney's new column: Bombs Bursting in Air

If a man-bites-dog story is news and dog-bites-man isn't, why are journalists still so interested in man-blows-up-self stories?

Is he talking about Rick "man on dog" Santorum?

I realize that we have a duty to report suicide bombings in the Middle East, especially when there's a spate as bad as in recent weeks. And I know the old rule of television news: if it bleeds, it leads. But I'm still puzzled by our zeal in frantically competing to get gruesome pictures and details for broadcasts and front pages.

Over 300 people have been killed very recently, so I think that would be called news, especially after the Bush administration and other righties were proclaiming "mission accomplished" soon after the Iraqi election.

I'm not advocating official censorship, but there's no reason the news media can't reconsider their own fondness for covering suicide bombings. A little restraint would give the public a more realistic view of the world's dangers.

I thought that journalists were supposed to report news, not be restrained in their coverage because it is bloody. There's a war going on and the insurgents are using suicide bombs as the primary method they are employing.

Mr. Giuliani told the police to stop giving out details of daily crime in time for reporters' deadlines, a policy that prompted outrage from the press but not many complaints from the public. With the lessening of the daily media barrage, New Yorkers began to be less scared and more realistic about the risks on their streets.

The suggestion of treating the Iraqi war like Giuliani's crime statistics is ludicrous. Last I checked Giuliani didn't have to reduce the number of attacks during a war in New York.

Just as New Yorkers came to be guided by crime statistics instead of the mayhem on the evening news, people might begin to believe the statistics showing that their odds of being killed by a terrorist are minuscule in Iraq or anywhere else.

If its so safe in Iraq, lets ask the many reporters how really comfortable they feel walking around the green zone without the military guarding them. They wouldn't be there.

Terrorists know the numbers are against them and realize that daily bombings will not win the war. All along, their hope has been to inspire recruits and spread general fear with another tactic, the bombing as photo opportunity. For some reason, their media strategy still works
.
So it’s the media's fault because they are accurately reporting the news coming out of Iraq. It sounds like he believes the Power line story that an AP photographer might have been in cahoots with the terrorists to get some Pulitzer Prize winning shot.

(Update)

Tbogg says: 9/12/2001. Dateline New York City: Yesterday sucked. But to talk about it only encourages the bad guys" Believe it or not, I'm starting to miss William Safire. As Media Matters points out, John Tierney seems to share a brain with David Brooks (which explains so much), so why both of them? read on

Attaturk says: Some might say -- WANKER! John Tierney, ladies and gentlemen, or as the New York Times should just advertise, "Two Bobos at Twice the Price!"...read on

Steve Gilliard says: Don't show the car bombs: Mr. Giuliani was an accomplished liar, who also released Patrick Dorismond's juvenile criminal record, defends the Diallo murderers and humiliated his wife in public on Mother's Day.... The fact is that car bombs reflect a lack of security. The media can't really cover Iraq because they might get kidnapped and have their heads cut off.

Martyrs' In Iraq Mostly Saudis

Web Sites Track Suicide Bombings

Before Hadi bin Mubarak Qahtani exploded himself into an anonymous fireball, he was young and interested only in "fooling around."

Like many Saudis, he was said to have experienced a religious awakening after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and dedicated himself to Allah, inspired by "the holy attack that demolished the foolish infidel Americans and caused many young men to awaken from their deep sleep," according to a posting on a jihadist Web site... read on

Download | play -WMP Part I (Frontline's expose says it all)

How much more proof do we need that Iraq is a breeding ground for terrorists, no matter how many times the repubs try to deflect it.. We are not fighting evil dictators, but religious fanatics. Nation building does not work against religious fervor. Are we really surprised that most of the hijackers of 9/11 were Saudi's? The administration will never admit that we would have been much better off focusing on Afghanistan and Homeland Security instead of ginning up the evidence and attacking Iraq.

Part II will come hopefully later today.

30 Bodies Discovered As Rice Visits Iraq

The bodies of 34 men shot execution-style were found in three locations in less than 24 hours, police said Sunday, a day when drive-by shootings and suicide bombings killed at least eight Iraqis, including a senior Industry Ministry official and a top Shiite cleric...

Iraq's Ahmad Chalabi: He's now Mr. Oil

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq failed to name an oil minister for its new government on Thursday and controversial politician Ahmad Chalabi was appointed acting minister of an industry plagued by sabotage attacks and uncertainty...

No expertise in oil
That would leave Chalabi, who has no expertise in oil, steering the oil industry of the country with the third largest reserves through a turbulent period of suicide bombings and frequent attacks on pipelines.

A Jordanian military court found Chalabi guilty of fraud in 1992. He denied the charges, fled Jordan and filed a law suit in the United States accusing the Jordanian government of framing him.

Lie to the administation and a certain NY Times reporter, help get us into a war, then get a promotion for it. That sounds about right.

I'm still gathering my thoughts on the debate, so I checked one of our fav's:

As I did last week, I flipped off the volume on the television after the debate ended so that I could put down some unmediated impressions before hearing the spin and CW in the process of formation.

I hesitate to say this. But my basic impression was that Edwards didn't strike a false note for the entire 90 minutes. And I say this having been critical of him in the past.

After I saw him at a Town Hall meeting in late January in New Hampshire, I
described how I was wowed by him during the event itself but then found myself not long after feeling the whole thing was somehow light and insubstantial.
Going into this debate I worried that I might see the same things. Specifically, I was concerned that everything else notwithstanding, Cheney might just outclass him on at least the perception of heft and seriousness.

But I didn't see that. Not at all. And the sharp on his feet quality I
ascribed to Cheney late this afternoon didn't seem particularly evident.
Let me review some running impressions of the debate itself.

I thought Cheney started very weak and that Edwards started just as strong. Cheney recovered after not too long; but Edwards remained clean and on-message.

One thing I also noticed is that Cheney didn't look very good or even very healthy. Something like that can simply be a matter of bad make-up or unflattering lighting. So I'm not making any assumptions about Cheney's health based on what I saw. But the physical contrast between the two men was unmistakable from the outset.

Another point that I believe will ripple over the next few days is that Vice President Cheney told a number of just straight-up falsehoods during the foreign policy portion of the debate. And that creates lots of grist for Democrats in the on-going debate spin war.

I didn't take close notes and I don't have a transcript available. But there was the time when the VP said he'd never suggested Saddam was connected to 9/11 -- which will come back to haunt him. And there were there a number of other Iraq, WMD and 9/11-whoppers.

Then there was the time when he said that a major reason for the decline of suicide bombings in Israel is that Saddam is no longer paying those $25,000 bounties to the families of the bombers.

That's got to be one of the stupidest I've ever heard. No one believes that. And I'm sure he'll be ridiculed endlessly for saying it.

There were other moments when he tried out really silly number and word games. In response to Edwards' claim that the US has sustained 90% of the coalition fatalities in Iraq, for instance, Cheney insisted that Edwards wasn't telling the truth because he wasn't including all the Iraqi soldiers and police officers who are of course now dying in their hundreds. So Cheney said the number is only 50%.

If you want to change the definition of 'the coalition' that everyone has used for the last two years I guess this may be technically true. But it struck me as silly and drove home the President's and the Vice President's unwillingness to look reality in the face and level with the public.

The essential truth is that for whatever reasons we don't have many allies with us in Iraq and the overwhelming number of casualties are Americans. Word games don't change that. Read on