Suffer the little children to come unto me

Republican Jesus salutes our State Security Apparatus for actions like these:

We have your sons: CIA

March 10 2003
By Olga Craig [The Age]

Two young sons of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks, are being used by the CIA to force their father to talk.

Yousef al-Khalid, 9, and his brother, Abed al-Khalid, 7, were taken into custody in Pakistan in September when intelligence officers raided a flat in Karachi where their father had been hiding.

Mohammed fled just hours before the raid but his sons and another senior al-Qaeda member were found cowering behind a wardrobe in the apartment.

The boys have been held by the Pakistani authorities but this weekend they were flown to America where they will be questioned about their father. CIA interrogators confirmed that the boys were staying at a secret address where they were being encouraged to talk about their father's activities. "We are handling them with kid gloves," said one official. "After all, they are only
little children, but we need to know as much about their father's recent activities as possible. We have child psychologists on hand at all times and they are given the best of are."

How do U.S. interrogators make a terrorist talk?

JESS BRAVIN and GARY FIELDS, The Wall Street Journal
Tuesday, March 4, 2003

Other than torture or truth serum, American authorities have an array of
options in extracting information from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

[...] U.S. authorities have an additional inducement to make Mr. Mohammed talk, even if he shares the suicidal commitment of the Sept. 11 hijackers: The Americans have access to two of his elementary-school-age children, the top law-enforcement official says. The children were captured in a September raid that netted one of Mr. Mohammed's top comrades, Ramzi Binalshibh.

When interrogators finish with Mr. Mohammed, he is likely to face a U.S.
military tribunal, but that will probably be years from now.

U.S. Adopts Aggressive Tactics on Iraqi Fighters Intensified Offensive Leads To Detentions, Intelligence

By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 28, 2003; Page A01

BAGHDAD -- Over the past six weeks a small but intense war has been
conducted in the mud-hut villages and lush palm groves along the Tigris
River valley, fought with far different methods than those used in the
campaign that toppled president Saddam Hussein.

[...] Col. David Hogg, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 4th Infantry
Division, said tougher methods are being used to gather the intelligence. On Wednesday night, he said, his troops picked up the wife and daughter of an Iraqi lieutenant general. They left a note: "If you want your family released, turn yourself in." Such tactics are justified, he said, because, "It's an intelligence operation with detainees, and these people have info." They would have been released in due course, he added later.

The tactic worked. On Friday, Hogg said, the lieutenant general appeared at the front gate of the U.S. base and surrendered.

U.S. Troops Capture Iraqi Rebel's Nephews

[Associated Press]
U.S. troops raided two homes in this central Iraqi city early Wednesday,
detaining four nephews of the insurgent suspected of organizing attacks
against coalition forces. The raid came a day after hostile fire brought down a U.S. Army Apache attack helicopter west of Baghdad - the third aircraft lost this month.

The military said two of the detained men are suspected of helping to hide their uncle, former Iraqi Vice President Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri. The former right-hand man of Saddam Hussein, al-Douri has a $10 million bounty on his head and has become the most-wanted member of the former regime.

[...] His wife and daughter were arrested on Nov. 26 and remain in custody. The Army has refused to say why they were seized. Col. William Darley, a military spokesman, said Tuesday there were "special circumstances" surrounding their case.

U.S. Arrests Wife of Saddam Deputy

[Associated Press]
U.S. troops arrested the wife and daughter of a top Saddam Hussein deputy suspected of masterminding attacks on U.S. troops, and a major pipeline
linking northern Iraqi oilfields to the country's biggest refinery was ablaze Wednesday.Hours after large explosions shook the center of Baghdad near U.S. headquarters, the visiting British foreign secretary said Iraq will be a
safer place once the U.S.- and British-led coalition hands over power to an
Iraqi government.

Troops of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division in Samarra, 70 miles north of Baghdad, arrested the wife and daughter of Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a top Saddam associate, division spokesman Lt. Col. William MacDonald said Wednesday.

Thanks to MsSpentYouth for all the quotes.

Republican Jesus Index

Excommunicating Coach Shanahan

Dear Fr. Howard,

I'm very pleased by your response to my email urging Bishop Sheridan to reinstate the inquisition for errant Catholic voters. I pray that the instruments of confession will convince them to shun politicians who support abortion and stem cell research.

Although the Catholic Church has not begun to set up its apparatus of inquisition, I'm comforted by the fact that the Bishop will deny communion to these lost voters. I'm also hopeful that we'll see a few excommunications.

I did a bit of research and found three Catholics from your diocese who have contributed money to candidates who support abortion or stem cell research. You may know them personally. Their names are Mike Shanahan, Ed Haselten, and Jack Vickers.

Mr. Shanahan coaches the Denver Broncos and is the honorary chairman of your Light the New millennium (LNM) campaign. Mr Haselten and Mr. Vickers, both successful businessmen, serve on the LNM Northern Region Core Team. All three gave contributions to retiring Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell who supports stem cell research. Mr. Vickers also supported Gale Norton in her various campaigns. She is pro-choice.

That's a start. Please don't hesitate to write me if you need any further help. I'm also willing to assist with the inquistion once you get it going.

Heterosexually yours,

Gen. JC Christian, Patriot

Father Howard's response to my earlier email:

Gen. JC Christian,

On behalf of Bishop Sheridan I wish to acknowledge that he has received and read your email. He is sincerely grateful for your kind and supportive words. Please remember him in your prayers as there are many Catholics, sadly, who disagree with the Catholic Church's teachings in these critical areas and attack the Church instead of support Her.

May the Lord bless you and fill you with His peace.

Sincerely yours in Jesus and Mary,

Peter J. Howard, S.T.L.
Executive Assistant to the Bishop
Diocese of Colorado Springs

Crossposted to TAS

Instachum

Some might accuse the great conservative blogger, Instapundit, of using the horrific Berg beheading as search engine chum, but hey, we all know he wouldn't do anything like that, don't we. After all, he's one of us.

The Frenchman Tbogg doesn't accuse Instapundit of this, but he links to the post in question (for some reason, my God-hating keyboard won't let me enter the proper code to link to the professor)

Nobody expects the conservative inquisition!

Dear Bishop Sheridan*,

I was very pleasantly surprised when I read the following in your May 1st Pastoral Letter (pdf):

Any Catholic politicians who advocate for abortion, for illicit stem cell research or for any form of euthanasia ipso facto place themselves outside full communion with the Church and so jeopardize their salvation. Any Catholics who vote for candidates who stand for abortion, illicit stem cell research or euthanasia suffer the same fateful consequences. It is for this reason that these Catholics, whether candidates for office or those who would vote for them, may not receive Holy Communion until they have recanted their positions and been reconciled with God and the Church in the Sacrament of Penance.

Although I'm very happy to see that the Church is starting to deal with these errant voters, I have to wonder if the denial of communion is enough. After all, what is stopping the sinning voter from repenting after the election so that he or she might resume taking communion? Indeed, they haven't actually sinned until they casts their vote for some stem cell research funding supporting servant of Satan. One could confess the next day without missing communion at a single Sunday Mass.

I think we need to put the fear of God into them by reinstituting the Inquisition. Imagine how quickly errant parishioners would remove their Kerry bumper stickers once they've been shown the instruments of confession. I bet the mere mention of the rack would be enough to convince them that election day might be best spent in the company of lonely monks at some remote monastery.

It shouldn't be too difficult to get the Inquisition up and running again. There must be dozens of good men who would make great Grand Inquisitors. Is Donald Rumsfeld Catholic?

Heterosexually yours,

Gen. JC Christian, Patriot

*Sent to Bishop Sheridan's executive assistant, Most Rev. Peter J. Howard.

Update The General received a response and will post it, along with his respone to it, later today, after he does all the things on Mrs. Christian's vile "to do" list.

Gen. JC Christian, Army Interrogator

Dear Sen. Inhofe,

I've always wanted to be an army interrogator, but I didn't think I was qualified. That changed the other day when I learned that the Department of Defense was hiring cooks and truck drivers to serve as interrogators in Iraq.

Heck, I have more experience than that. In addition to being a militia general, I've seen The Passion of the Christ thirty-seven times, every Rambo movie, every episode of Kojak, and Dirty Dirk's Dungeon of Discipline I, IV, V, VII, VIII, and IX.

DDDoD VII is the best. Are you familiar with it? Best baton work I've ever seen. You're welcome to come over and see it the next time you're in town. We can wear gladiator outfits. It makes it more fun.

Anyway, I have more than enough training to be an interrogator in Iraq. Could you put in a good word for me?

Heterosexually yours,

Gen. JC Christian, patriot
truebeliever@softhome.net

The pay box of Godly righteousness is working once again

My old friend Cyn wrote me a note saying that this old soldier's Amazon Honor Box link was broken. It's working now. The General could use a new computer, one that doesn't need to be rebooted every 50 minutes. Please send a few bucks if you have any to spare.

Political family values

Dear Dr. Laura,

I was saddened to read that Our Leader won't be attending his daughters' graduations because he was worried that the security precautions would inconvenience the other parents. Then, I learned that he will be Louisiana State University's graduation speaker. I found that a bit confusing. Why would he miss his daughters' graduations, but attend LSU's? The security situation would be the same.

Then it struck me. Louisiana is a battleground state. He's doing it for political reasons. He understands that the parents of graduating LSU students won't mind the extra security because they'll be helping him on his quest to provide us with another four years of his bold leadership.

Dr. Laura, I hate to see him miss his own daughters' big day. I hope you'll consider asking him to request to be the speaker at their graduations. That way, it'd be a political event and he could attend.

I bet he'd listen to you. I know you've been a big supporter of his and that you're very respected in conservative circles--especially now that you're no longer a Jew.

Please consider it.

Heterosexually yours,

Gen. JC Christian, Patriot

Letters to the editor

Wow, what a response. My little soldier was so excited he could spit.

You folks are great. Let me know if any of your letters get published and, I'll link to them.

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aide of Our Leader

A Wisconsin newspaper has a problem:

We’ve been getting more letters critical of President Bush than those that support him. We’re not sure why, nor do we want to guess. But in today’s increasingly polarized political environment, we would prefer our offering to put forward a better sense of balance.

Since we depend upon you, our readers, to supply our letters, that goal can be difficult. We can’t run letters that we don’t have.

[...]

If you would like to help us "balance" things out, send us a letter, make a call or punch out an e-mail. Read the handy box at the bottom of the page for more information. We’d love to hear from you.

I think we can help these nice folks out. Use this form; follow these rules; and keep your letters under 300 words. Here's a list of Our Leader's accomplishments if you need it.

I'm going to claim GOP Team Leader points for this activity, so please post your letter in the comments. That way I can get a count.

Since I'm making it a GOP Team Leader activity, you'll need to send the exact same letter to all of your local newspapers as well. I think that's some kind of GOP Team Leader rule--at least it seems that way. You can use the handy form provided by the fine God-fearing people at the American Family Association to send them all at once.

Here's my letter:

Dear Editor,

I support George W. Bush's visionary plan to turn the Middle East into one large terrorist incubator. His daily efforts to fuel that region's hatred of Americans has been wildly successful. Thanks to the President's bold leadership, there are now more American-hating terrorists on the loose than at any other time in our history.

Eventually, every single resident of the Middle East who could possibly become a terrorist, will be one. Then, it's just a matter of time until we round them all up and end the threat of terrorism once and for all.

JC Christian, patriot

Note to my readers:

Thanks to readers Ed and Ned--no, I am not making that up--for the tip, and that damned fancy belgian endive farmer for sparking the idea.

I work ten hour days with a 1.5 hour commute each way. Adding family time, that means I don't have a lot of time to answer many of the letters you send. I read them all, and I love the feedback, but I worry that my lack of response may offend people. I hope that's not the case.

Teaching proper values

Dear Mrs. Claybrook,

The article* in the Tri-City Herald prompted me to check into these homosexual books that you are attempting to have locked up. Like you, I was appalled. King and King and My Two Uncles send a very dangerous message to our children, a message that homosexuals should be afforded dignity.

Tolerance is becoming a real problem in our society. When I was a kid, we'd beat the living hell out of any kid who was called a homosexual. It didn't matter if it was true--in fact, we never believed it to be true, because we knew that it was impossible for anyone to be a homosexual in our nice little God-fearing Mormon community--it only mattered that someone had called him a homosexual. That was enough for a stomping.

Today's kids aren't blessed with that kind of cultural guidance. Television and bleeding heart liberals tell them that it's OK to be a homosexual. Now you hear of kids who dare admit their orientation in public. They are no longer afraid of getting beaten.

We need to change that before all of our children succumb to the siren song of homosexuality. I say burn these books about tolerance and bring back the beatings. We need to do it for the good of the children.

Thank you for doing your part.

Gen. JC Christian, patriot

Article requires registration. Here's part of it:

Kristine Claybrook doesn't want to be surprised when she reads to her two children in the public library and finds gay-oriented characters or themes in a book.

"We feel the library should be a safe place for our children to browse without being exposed to this sort of lifestyle," said the 26-year-old mother. Her strong faith in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints anchors her and her family's values, she said.

She is shocked the Mid-Columbia Library District has put books such as King & King and My Two Uncles in its children's section. She believes the books, which address issues facing families that include homosexuals, should be kept in a separate section of the library.

She and other like-minded mothers have discussed the issue since one of them first came across one of the books in January.

"She was just appalled," Claybrook said. Since then, she and her husband Paul have written complaints to the 11-branch district, which has 67,460 registered users and an annual circulation of nearly 1 million items.

Pepper Schwartz, a University of Washington professor of sociology, said the debate over gay issues intensifies when it involves children.

"I respect the intense urge to protect one's children," she said. "But in this case, I think parents may be whipped up in a conservative frenzy. I really don't think there is any danger of any sort."

Since Heather Has Two Mommies, by Leslea Newman, was published in 1989 there has been criticism about such books being shelved in children's sections of libraries.

The Mid-Columbia Library district has six copies of King & King and five copies of My Two Uncles at its 11 branches.

"It's trying to push this kind of lifestyle on people," Claybrook said. "It doesn't coincide with the majority of the (Mid-Columbia's) population, which is conservative."

Schwartz disagrees: "I don't think children are at risk because (the books) are on the bookshelf. ... The jump from reading a book about tolerance to trying homosexuality is not clear to me."

Schwartz, co-author of the book Ten Talks Parents Must Have with Their Children about Sex and Character, said the controversy boils down to a question of values. She said similar controversies arose from the civil rights and women's rights movements.

Rev. Eileen Lindner, deputy general secretary for the National Council of Churches, said it's a freedom of speech issue, and as long as a work doesn't meet the legal definition of being obscene, it's protected speech.

As for the books in question, she said they are attempting to help children understand an issue and tolerate children around them who might have a nontraditional family. The books, she said, don't advocate gay marriage or promote gay lifestyles.

McNamara vindicated

For many years, our military effectiveness has been hobbled by the belief that politicians were responsible for losing the war in Vietnam. "If only the politicians had allowed real soldiers to run the war," the common wisdom went, "we'd have been victorious."

Thankfully, Vietnam veterans groups like John O'Neill's Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and Ted Sampley's Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry are working hard to change that perception by loyally supporting Our Leader's war policy in Iraq, a war waged by politicians every bit as much as was the war in Vietnam. These vets understand that the Brooks Brothers warriors of the Vietnam era received a bad rap. O'Neill, Sampley, and company are not about to let it happen again to today's McNamara, Donald Rumsfeld or our current LBJ, George W. Bush.

Sure, there are those who still grumble about politicians who play at being generals, but as Colin Powell so quickly learned, pledges of "never again" can easily become "at Our Leader's command." Generals, like secretaries of state serve at the pleasure of the executive. They'll either follow orders or be gone. So far, that's been enough to keep them in line.

I salute O'Neill and Sampley for having the guts to continue supporting civilian generals for all these years, and I'm sure that they feel that their loyalty is vindicated every time they pick up a newspaper and see all that Our Leader is accomplishing in Iraq.

Note from The General: Parts of this post were also posted to the Swift Boat Veteran's for Truth bulletin board. Responding to it will "bump" it to the top.