- Reuters (via Backcountry Conservative)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces in Iraq on Friday launched a big offensive in the rebel stronghold of Samarra and said they had secured key government and police buildings.

The assault followed U.S. pledges to wrest control of major centers, including Samarra, Falluja and Ramadi, from insurgents who have used them as bases for attacks across the country. The aim was to stabilize Iraq before January’s elections.

Residents of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, told Reuters by telephone that big explosions shook the city, that there had been more than two hours of air strikes and most people were taking shelter.

CNN’s reporter in Iraq, Jane Arraf, in a live broadcast from Samarra, said she was accompanying U.S. forces engaged in the attack, which she described as “an entire brigade-size operation into Samarra to root out insurgents.”

Arraf said the forces, accompanied by Iraqi national guards, were moving “sector by sector through the city to secure it.” Her report was punctuated several times by what she said were explosions of rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.

I am glad that both the United States army as well as the Iraqi army is conducting an assault on isurgent and terrorist strongholds within Iraq. It is my fear that during the election season much of the needed work and fighting inside of Iraq to help secure the country would not be done in fear of casualties. At least in this small case, the election has not detered the operations to secure Iraq.

Update 10/1:
Reports show that at least 90 people were killed and over 180 injured in the assault. The U.S. and Iraqi armies were able to gain control of the government offices and police stations within Samarra, one of their goals.

Backcountry Conservative linked with U.S. and Iraqi Soldiers Launch New Offensive
Interested-Participant linked with U.S. Forces Storm Iraqi City

The Dallas Morning News has a good fact check page open that I suggest you view.

DISCLAIMER: I am partisan and I made up my mind to vote for Bush long before there was even a Democratic candiate. I will however attempt to give my impressions of the first presidential debate as non-partisan as possible. Readers may choose to agree or choose to disagree, and if you do either I would like to hear everyone’s opinion on the matter.

In the first presidential debate the topic was foreign policy, which turned heavily towards Iraq for the first 30+ minutes. It is my opinion that John Kerry carried the first portion of the debate, not because of the issues, but because it appeared that Bush was on the defensive taking shots from Kerry right and left. There were gaffes by both candidates, but one sticks in my mind that was said by John Kerry.

Never confuse the warrior with the war.

While Senator Kerry is right in this phrase, it is just a bit ironic given his history of labeling his fellow soldiers that faught and lost their lives in Vietnam war criminals. To his credit however, Bush did not seize the opportunity this afforded and seemed not to be listening to his fellow candidate.

Kerry made his regular talking points regarding alliances and his newest criticism of the war in Iraq as being a diversion from the war on terror. I do not believe this is an argument that will win over voters. It is clear before the war as well as now that terrorism within Iraq was deep rooted and is even more deep rooted now. Our fine young men and women, my brave peers, are digging up terrorist cells and networks and eliminating them. No, it’s not as fast as we all would like to see it, but it is happening.

Bush hammered Kerry on his continued mention of not having coallition partners, but he has done so many times before with mixed results. It fires the base up but I’m not sure how much it does for the undecideds. Kerry mentioned the lack of safety inside of Iraq and Bush brought up Kerry’s and a member of Kerry’s campaign denegrating of Iraqi Prime Minister Allawi.

This was classic because many viewers probably did not realize this. What Bush should have done is much of what fellow blogger Scrappleface used as a humorous peace and suggested Kerry call Allawi up and offer to give Allawi a guided tour of Iraq. Doing so would have interjected a great deal of humor as well as serving the point that much of the criticism just might be because of the political season.

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Say Anything linked with More Thoughts On The Debate
Ramblings' Journal linked with Friday Morning Quarterbacking
bLogicus linked with First Debate Round-Up Favors Kerry
Generation Why? linked with Post-Debate Wrap-Up... We Called It!
Allah Is In The House linked with
ISOU linked with Arround the Blogsphere.... The Debate V
RIGHT ON RED >> linked with My Reaction to Debate One

Written by Guest Blogger Preston Ledger of Consternations

Fearing his rock-solid support among African-Americans may be cracking, Democrat Sen. John Kerry yesterday turned to a man who could very well expand the spidering fissures rather than contain them.

Kerry has hired race racket guru and corporate shakedown artist Jesse Jackson to serve as a senior adviser to his presidential campaign in an effort to shore up his slipping poll numbers among black Americans. According to poll results released this week by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Kerry is supported by 73 percent of blacks, compared with 12 percent for President George W. Bush. These would be great numbers for Kerry in almost any electoral demographic, but not in what has historically been a lock-step-loyal voting block for Democrats. The poll reveals significant slippage in black support from 2000, when then-Vice President Al Gore garnered 90 percent of the black vote.

As he pushed his panic-button speed dial to recruit Jackson, Kerry should have thought about the effect his hiring decision could have and why his support among blacks has softened in the first place. More and more African-Americans are now hip to Jackson’s dubious record as their cause champion. A downside-of-influence figure whose self-serving interests and moral failings have been well documented (extortion of corporations by threat of racism charges, cronyism, nepotism, mistress-silencing payoffs, etc.), Jackson may not be the best black face to put on the Kerry campaign at this late stage. A certain percentage of black voters are likely to view the hiring as a desperate move by a candidate too out of touch with them to know he should have hired someone else — and done so much sooner.

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Dummocrats.com linked with Kerry hires Jesse Jackson. (In the Bullpen)

- Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A series of bombs killed 35 children and seven adults Thursday as U.S. troops handed out candy at a government ceremony to inaugurate a new sewage treatment plant. Hours earlier, a suicide blast killed a U.S. soldier and two Iraqis on the capital’s outskirts.

The bombs in Baghdad’s al-Amel neighborhood caused the largest death toll of children in any insurgent attack since the conflict in Iraq (news - web sites) began 17 months ago.

“The Americans called us, they told us, ‘Come here, come here,’ asking us if we wanted sweets. We went beside them, then a car exploded,” said 12-year-old Abdel Rahman Dawoud, lying naked in a hospital bed with shrapnel embedded all over his body.

[snip]

The explosions killed 42 people and wounded 141, including 10 U.S. soldiers. The wounded included 72 children under the age of 14, said Dr. Mohammed Salaheddin.

While U.S. soldiers were doing good deeds and trying to form a better relationship with the Iraqi people, terrorists decided this was the opportunity they were looking for and set off car bombs. No group has yet to claim responsibility for the act, however it is reasonable to assume the attack was organized by Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi’s group Tawhid wal Jihad based upon similar car bombings recently that bear similar circumstances.

Update:
Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi’s group has claimed responsiblity for the suicide bombings that killed the 35 children and injured over 140 people. Read a translated statement here.

Cross-posted at Backcountry Conservative

ISOU linked with A DEAD CHILD, IS A DEAD CHILD, PEOPLE!

- Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran

An official building harboring an Islamic propaganda and surveillance office was set on fire, on Tuesday, in the northern city of Rasht located in the Guilan province near the Caspian sea. The building is the center of the “Rasht’s Followers of Imam” group and the Islamist “Guilan weekly” magazine.

Unidentified assailants were able to inflict heavy damages to the building and escape without being harmed.

More and more exasperated Iranians are sizing any occasion to protest or are choosing violent manners in order to destabilize the Islamic regime. Armed actions are in constant raise as an increasing number of Iranians are believing that the mullahs won’t step down from political power by just peaceful means.

Yesterday I posted news about an ongoing “revolution,” or so it appears, and above is more information of civil unrest within the country. Unfortunately Iran controls all of the media within their country so it is difficult to to verify the information with credible sources.

The Politicker linked with Irans Civil Problems Continue
Diggers Realm linked with Just Too Much To Handle For A Mortal Man
ISOU linked with Some Morning Reading

The children of Bill Burkett, the Rathegate “mastermind,” have started their own blog where they defend their father (Hat tip: Slings and Arrows). They are not guilty of forging government documents in Texas, but their father is.

There’s a war going on in America.

The result will define whether America remains a Democracy. The prize is the heart and soul of our country, the Constitutional freedoms and Bill of Rights we cherish and depend upon.

And someone has decided that our Dad is the enemy. George Bush, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and the FreeRepublic terrorists would have you believe our Dad is a criminal. But he’s not. Others would have you believe he’s a liar. But his single small lie is pale in comparison to the many outrageous lies told by the media and others about him.

Bill Burkett might not be a liar, but he is when it comes to the bogus documents passed off by CBS as legit. The legality of the situation is that Burkett broke the law in Texas by forging government documents (Hat tip: Captain’s Quarters).

In Texas, the state in which Burkett concedes the false National Guard memos originated, it is a felony to make or present two or more documents with knowledge of their falsity and with intent that they be taken as a genuine governmental record. Under the U.S. Code, use of an interstate telephone wire, such as the one used to transmit an image of the forged documents from Texas to CBS headquarters, triggers federal jurisdiction.

Of course the defense of Burkett is that he was given these documents by a mystery woman named Lucy Ramirez who has yet to be identified. The State of Texas most likely will not press charges against Burkett for forging government documents, but the option remains on the table.

If Burkett were smart, and from the inconsistencies in both the documents and his statements after the fact suggest he is not, he would reveal who Lucy Ramirez is if she exists. Not only does the reputation of Burkett and his children lay on the line, but Bill Burkett’s free life might if Texas decides to indict him.

Cross posted at Backcountry Conservative

Interested-Participant linked with Burkett Family Blog

Developing . . . All updates in extended entry

There have been more and more rumors floating around the internet concerning suspicious activity inside of Iran. They have been focused on a supposed revolution.

Jordan of The Politicker brings word of a post on a forum as well as a strange picture of Enghelab Square in Tehran, Iran.

Reports over the past 24 - 48 hours via several important information services such as SMCCDI, Peykeiran, Zagros and direct email reports and phone calls from Iranian citizens is beginning to shine light on what at this time looks to be country-wide fighting and quickly escalating into what could potentially become a freedom revolution.

Several independent citizen sources have reported the formation of significant crowds throughout the country, and have heard many loud explosions and gun shots, including in the cities of Tehran, Esfahan, and Shiraz.

SMCCDI and Peykeiran have both reported intense battles between freedom-loving Iranian citizens and the regime’s fanatical militias in the village of Meeyan Do Ab. Both sources are reporting many deaths and injuries both to the villagers and regime’s forces.

If these rumors are true, this is fantastic news if a revolutoin accomplishes something. The Iranian government isn’t exactly friendly with the United States or the civilized world. President Bush and the entire United States government needs to support a revolution if one is going on.

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The Politicker linked with Irans Civil Problems Continue
The Politicker linked with Enghelab Square

Here we are less than 24 hours away from the first debate in the 2004 Election season. President Bush is being grilled by his campaign on how to say terms such as nuclear and sitting in front of flash cards with world leaders’ actual names on them. Senator Kerry has gotten a new shade of orange applied to his face via “tan in a bottle” and also learning the correct stadiums of all NFL teams and in particular where the Miami Hurricanes play. The candidates have prepped, but have you?

Preston Ledger of Consternations beat me to the punch with is Before-the-Bell Analysis, but there are a few things I’d like to add.

The too-smart-for-the-room Kerry must find a way to talk down to those listening at home without totally insulting them. He must abandon his proclivity for blustery Senate-speak in favor of language and pace one might use during a conversation with Jessica Simpson. In other words, dumb it down. If Jessica doesn’t get it, neither will many other not-so-bright Americans that unfortunately compose our electorate.

This is one of Kerry’s biggest problems. It’s not that he feels he is smarter than everyone else, at least I suspect not, but that he presents himself this way. Kerry comes accross too much like a politician and less like a genuine person. This is a fundemental flaw that has hurt the Senator in the polls and will continue to do so unless he can appear more human-like. The orange hue won’t help him.

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- Associated Press

CAIRO, Egypt - Kidnappers of two French journalists in Iraq praised France’s “positive steps toward the Iraqi people” Tuesday, a sign that the hostage-takers may be softening their position.

In a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press in Cairo and also posted on a discussion board of the Islamic Army in Iraq, the group said it hoped “this is a beginning for a new era of understanding our issues and respect of our constants.”

[snip]

On Monday, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said that an international conference on Iraq proposed by the United States should consider the question of a U.S. troop withdrawal from that country.

Well, France is up to it again ladies and gents. Not only are they negotiating with the group of hostage takers, there will be most assuredly a transfer of money to this group for the release of the journalists. No wonder why groups that take hostages praise France. Do not get me wrong, I do hope the journalists are safe and will be released, but bowing down to demands is not the way a government should operate.

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No, this post is not about something some journalist said about bloggers or the state of blogging, it’s about the direction the MSM is heading. Rusty Shackleford of Mypetjawa notes this morning that pictures of the Zarqawi website being hacked that appeared here first and pictures of the first time the site was hacked by TeAmZ USA that appeared at Mypetjawa first were shown on MSNBC last night. Free Republic also had a posting on the original site hack.

We all know by now that there are portions of the mainstream media who are searching blogs for either opinions or news so this is nothing new. What is disturbing to me is that there was no credit given for finding and posting of these pictures and the complete lack of ethical journalism in checking their sources.

Credit? Who wants stinking credit? I do not necessarily care to recieve credit for the report or the screen capture and I can’t speak for Rusty, but the sad fact is that the mainstream media has actually taken the word of two people that are bloggers. Remember, most of the MSM refer to bloggers as pajama wearing partisan hacks, hardly a source I would trust if I were them.

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mypetjawa v. 2.0 (beta) linked with My Pet Jawa on MSNBC: Bloggers Beat Mainstream Press Again
In Search of Utopia linked with Just Some Random Thoughts...