Impeach Pelosi? Why Not...

I just got an email about how Pelosi could be convicted of a felony for her little visit to Syria under the Logan Act and was gonna post on it, but in doing some research, it appears Hot Air beat me to the punch, you know, 13 days ago when the story was still relevant.

Don't blame me, I think I was taking a blogging break back then...

Anyway, here's the text of the email:

Pelosi arguably committed a FELONY when she traveled to Syria and whispered behind closed doors with Bashar al-Assad, Syria's terrorist-loving leader.
First, the U.S. Constitution implicitly gives the President the authority to conduct foreign policy.

In order to make that responsibility explicit, in 17[99] President John Adams initiated the Logan Act, which forbids any American -- "without authority of the United States" -- to communicate with a foreign government with the intent of influencing that government's actions in any "disputes or controversies with the United States."

VIOLATION OF THE LOGAN ACT IS A FELONY! Upon conviction, an offender can be sentenced to prison for up to three years. If she was just a regular person like you, Nancy Pelosi would be a prime candidate for a prison cell.

Why should Speaker Pelosi, third in the line of Presidential succession, get away with blatantly undermining U.S. Foreign policy by meeting with the leader of a country that supports terrorism? Why aren't our conservative leaders calling for a full investigation of her actions, or censure or even impeachment?

Allah seems to think it's a long shot, and he's probably right. In some 200+ years, no one's been prosecuted. But this might be a good card to keep up our sleeves in case those power-drunk, trigger-happy Dems try and impeach Bush (as they so want to do) or Cheney (which they're now threatening). And it all has even more importance with Madame Speaker planning a similar trip to Iran.

Iran Captures 15 British Navy Personnel

Not good:

Iran captured fifteen British Royal Navy personnel during a "routine boarding operation" in Iraqi waters on Friday, Britain's Ministry of Defense said.

Iran's ambassador in London has been summoned and Britain is demanding the immediate safe release of the sailors.

"At approximately 1030 Iraqi time this morning, 15 British naval personnel, engaged in routine boarding operations of merchant shipping in Iraqi territorial waters ... were seized by Iranian naval vessels," the ministry said in a statement.

"We are urgently pursuing this matter with the Iranian authorities at the highest level and on the instructions of the Foreign Secretary, the Iranian ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Office. The British government is demanding the immediate and safe return of our people and equipment."

For Iran, anyway...

Iranian Fauxtography?

An update on Rutheford's mention of Iran possibly launching a rocket into space; turns out, "the blessed rocket was actually a below-orbit satellite which goes above balloons but below satellites." Not quite launching a rocket into space, eh, Mahmoud?

Not only that, but Gateway Pundit has discovered that most of the pictures the Iranian media is circulating of their "space rocket" are actually recycled shots of American and Australian rockets. While this doesn't prove they didn't even launch a rocket, it certainly suggests it.

More lies from an oppressive government. Any surprise? You've got to keep the oppressed impressed, or they might just start to think for themselves and not stand up for that Sharia shit.

Three Random Stories

Three quick Sunday stories:

Teachers are under appreciated heroes that deserve our respect and far more money. Here's an example of the selfless sacrifices our teachers and administrators make:

Drugs in school is a serious problem. But here's one for the books.

A Florida middle school principal is charged with possession of cocaine and soliciting to purchase cocaine on school property.

The felony carries a minimum sentence of three years in prison.

Police say Anthony Giancola, principal of Tampa's Van Buren Middle School, was arrested in the school lobby Thursday after buying 20 dollars' worth of crack from an undercover officer while students were on campus.

It's gotten to the point where our teachers need to become drug addicts, we put them under so much pressure.

Next, Iran moves on in their climb to world domination - something that's not hard to do if no one is trying to stop you:

Iranian media say the country has successfully launched its first rocket capable of reaching space.

But officials later said it was for research and would not go into orbit.

Experts say if Iran has fired a rocket into space it would cause alarm abroad as it would mean scientists had crossed important technological barriers.

Iran has made little secret of its desire to become a space power and already has a satellite in orbit launched by the Russians.

I thought this was an American problem:

LONDON — The newest fashion among schoolgirls is getting knocked up, according to one pregnant 14-year-old whose four friends are also expecting.

British teen Kizzy Neal says she's been approached for advice from other pregnant girls her age ever since she conceived, reported London's Daily Mail.

"When my friends see my bump they say they wish they could have a baby, then three weeks later they're pregnant and don't know what to do," Neal said.

"It seems to be fashionable to get pregnant. ... Teenage girls think babies are cute, but they forget the physical side of being pregnant, then having to give up your own childhood to look after a baby," she told the paper.

Neal says she got pregnant the first time she had sex with her 13-year-old boyfriend.

Sick.

Iran Continues To Enrich Uranium

Iran is continuing to barrel ahead in its nuclear power/arms program, despite a toothless threat from the UN's IAEA. Let's pray that the UN actually enforces this "deadline" unlike so many others - however the smart money is on this being yet another problem the the US will have to face virtually alone.

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran failed to suspend uranium enrichment activity by February 21, ignoring a U.N. Security Council deadline to halt work the West fears could give Tehran an atomic weapon, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said on Thursday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency also said in a report that Iran had installed two cascades, or networks, of 164 centrifuges in its underground Natanz enrichment plant with another two cascades close to completion.

This represented efforts to expand research-level enrichment of nuclear fuel into “industrial scale” production.

It said Iranian workers lowered into the plant an 8.7-ton container of uranium hexafluoride gas (UF-6) to prepare to start feeding centrifuges, which can enrich the material into fuel for power plants or, if refined to high levels, for bombs.

Iran’s defiance of a 60-day deadline set by the Council when it banned nuclear technology transfers to Iran on December 23 will expose Iran to wider sanctions over its atomic energy program, which the West fears is a front for assembling atom bombs.

Edwards Doesn't Apologize

The third Democrat in so many days to completely eat his words regarding the affairs of the Middle East and the War on Terror:

WASHINGTON John Edwards' presidential campaign wants to make it clear that he doesn't consider Israel a threat to world peace.

A spokesman for the 2008 Democratic candidate issued a statement today denying such a report on Variety.com.

Columnist Peter Bart reports that Edwards told a Hollywood fundraiser last month that the possibility that Israel would bomb Iran's nuclear facilities is perhaps the greatest short-term threat to world peace.

Edwards' spokesman Jonathan Prince says the article is erroneous. He says Edwards says one of the greatest short-term threats to world peace is Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Iran To Have Women-Only Island

From Hot Air:

I’ve seen movies based on this concept. Ahmadinejad wouldn’t dig them.

Or, you know, maybe he’d dig them a lot. Terrorists are nothing if not unpredictable.

Here’s the logical outcome of Islamists trying to reconcile their chastity-belt misogyny with the concept of sun, surf, and fun:

Iran is seeking to create a paradise for female tourists by turning an island on a northwestern lake into male-free zone, the press reported on Wednesday.

All public transport, restaurants and facilities on the island — on the gigantic Oroumiyeh lake close to the Turkish border — will be staffed only by women, officials said…

Iran’s Islamic codes strictly prohibit exposure of unveiled women to men.

Iran has already partitioned parts of its southern and northern beaches as women-only zones where women can legally remove their headscarves and overcoats in freedom.

In some cities, there are also special “women parks”.

Exit question: Isn’t there another, more efficient solution to this “problem”?

Boy. I bet women in America wish that we were respectable enough to ban them to special islands.

Mehdi Army Leaving Iraq

The Mehdi army continues to flee:

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has ordered heads of his Mehdi Army militia to leave Iraq and asked the government to arrest "outlaws" under a U.S.- backed crackdown, Iraq's president said on Thursday.

President Jalal Talabani made the remarks after Iraq closed its borders with Iran and Syria and as U.S. and Iraqi troops tightened their grip on Baghdad, patrolling neighborhoods and setting up checkpoints that searched even official convoys.

Insurgents defied a sweep by U.S. and Iraqi soldiers of the volatile southern, mainly Sunni, Doura district, exploding two car bombs that killed four people. A bomb planted on a bus in the Mehdi Army stronghold of Sadr City killed three people.

Talabani said he was unaware of Sadr's whereabouts. The U.S. military has said the anti-American cleric is in Iran, but his aides insist he is in Iraq's holy Shi'ite city Najaf. An Iraqi government official said he was in Tehran, but only for a short visit.

Al Sadr Flees To Iran

No good will come from this violent escalation of the occupation in Iraq - well, if you're a terrorist that is:

While members of the U.S. House of Representatives take turns weighing in on President Bush's planned troop surge in Iraq, the focus in Iraq is not on the arrival of more U.S. troops, but the departure of one of the country's most powerful men, Moqtada al Sadr and members of his army.

According to senior military officials al Sadr left Baghdad two to three weeks ago, and fled to Tehran, Iran, where he has family.

Al Sadr commands the Mahdi Army, one of the most formidable insurgent militias in Iraq, and his move coincides with the announced U.S. troop surge in Baghdad.

Sources believe al Sadr is worried about an increase of 20,000 U.S. troops in the Iraqi capital. One official told ABC News' Martha Raddatz, "He is scared he will get a JDAM [bomb] dropped on his house."

Sources say some of the Mahdi army leadership went with al Sadr.

Though he is gone for now, many think al Sadr is not gone for good. In Tehran he is trying to keep the Madhi militia together.

Need I point out that there is no evidence that Iran is helping kill Americans in Iraq? Just supplying weapons and protecting our enemies. Way to go.

Iranians In Iraq

Interesting:

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A top U.S. general said Tuesday there was no evidence the Iranian government was supplying Iraqi insurgents with highly lethal roadside bombs, apparently contradicting claims by other U.S. military and administration officials.

Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. forces hunting down militant networks that produced roadside bombs had arrested Iranians and that some of the material used in the devices were made in Iran.

“That does not translate that the Iranian government per se, for sure, is directly involved in doing this,” Pace told reporters in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. “What it does say is that things made in Iran are being used in Iraq to kill coalition soldiers.”

Meanwhile, Iraq seems to understand that it doesn't really matter whether the government's involved or not, they need to be stopped (along with foreign terrorists):

Iraq announced plans on Tuesday to close its borders with Iran and Syria and lengthen a night curfew on vehicles in new emergency measures to try to curb unrelenting violence in Baghdad.

The measures were unveiled during another day of bloodshed in the capital in which a suicide bomber blew up a truck rigged with explosives near a Baghdad college, killing 18 people just a day after bomb blasts ripped apart two crowded city markets.

They are the clearest sign yet from Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that an offensive against militants who are tearing Iraq apart is picking up pace.

Update, 5:30 pm -

I wonder if Pace was privy to this when he made that statement:

Austrian sniper rifles that were exported to Iran have been discovered in the hands of Iraqi terrorists, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

More than 100 of the.50 calibre weapons, capable of penetrating body armour, have been discovered by American troops during raids.

The guns were part of a shipment of 800 rifles that the Austrian company, Steyr-Mannlicher, exported legally to Iran last year.

The sale was condemned in Washington and London because officials were worried that the weapons would be used by insurgents against British and American troops.

Within 45 days of the first HS50 Steyr Mannlicher rifles arriving in Iran, an American officer in an armoured vehicle was shot dead by an Iraqi insurgent using the weapon.

Over the last six months American forces have found small caches of the £10,000 rifles but in the last 24 hours a raid in Baghdad brought the total to more than 100, US defence sources reported.

Gee. I'm sure the Iranian government had nothing to do with purchasing 800, $20,000 rifles. That's just spare change to terrorists who live in caves.

What's a $20,000 rifle look like you ask. This:

Iran Denies US Charges

Mahmoud is denying that Iran supplied Iraqi terrorists with bombs used to kill US soldiers and civilians. Didn't he also claim Iran cured AIDs? I don't think killing all of the homosexuals counts as a cure, Mahmoud, nor do I believe Iran over US intelligence.

However, expect liberals to side with Mahmoud now that he's denied it. After all, we're the corporate, military-industrial complex that's blowing up civilians in Iraq...

(Be sure to check out the ABC News story for an adorable picture of Diane Sawyer interviewing Mahmoud in a arab head-scarf).

Iran: Killing Americans In Iraq

How do you not invade/decimate Iran after this?

High-tech roadside bombs that have proved particularly deadly to American soldiers are manufactured in Iran and delivered to Iraq on orders from the "highest levels" of the Iranian government, a senior intelligence officer said Sunday.

The NYT covered it yesterday in a story I haven't read yet.

The most lethal weapon directed against American troops in Iraq is an explosive-packed cylinder that United States intelligence asserts is being supplied by Iran.

The assertion of an Iranian role in supplying the device to Shiite militias reflects broad agreement among American intelligence agencies, although officials acknowledge that the picture is not entirely complete.

In interviews, civilian and military officials from a broad range of government agencies provided specific details to support what until now has been a more generally worded claim, in a new National Intelligence Estimate, that Iran is providing “lethal support” to Shiite militants in Iraq.

Cox and Forkum covered Iran killing our troops by proxy on January 31:

IAEA Stops Helping Iran Make Nukes. A Good Start, I Guess...

In a bold new step to make the world a safer place, the IAEA has "curbed technical cooperation with Iran." Them's fightin' words.

My question: why was the IAEA ever involved in "technical cooperation" with Iran? Morons. Too little, too late.

Iran Threatens West, Big Surprise

Iran has warned they will "hit back" if the US attacks them. First of all, duh.

Second, what do you think the media wants us to do with regards to Iran? As always, they're Left wing, anti-war, wackos who want us to ignore a rouge regime bent on destroying the West and Israel. Why else would they publish pieces like "Iran warns will hit back at US if attacked." We all know Iran will retaliate if we attack them, the goal is to attack before they have nuclear weapons.

Third, what do they mean they'll "hit back?" Iran already sponsors terrorism across the globe that has attacked and killed Americans! They've already hit us. Are they going to hit us even more if we attack? Maybe we should hit back. They've killed Americans; time was that was enough to get your nation wiped off the map.

Iran Behind Murdered Soldiers?

Bill Roggio from The Fourth Rail is speculating that the recent Karbala attacks on US soldiers in Iraq may have been perpetrated by Iranians - as in their army. Here's an excerpt:

On January 20th, a team of twelve men disguised as U.S. soldiers entered the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala, where U.S. soldiers conducted a meeting with local officials, and attacked and killed five soldiers, and wounded another three. The initial reports indicated the five were killed in the Karbala JCC, however the U.S. military has reported that four of those killed were actually removed from the center, handcuffed, and murdered.

The American Forces Information Service provides the details of the attack in Karbala. Based on the sophisticated nature of the raid, as well as the response, or cryptic non-responses, from multiple military and intelligence sources, this raid appears to have been directed and executed by the Qods Force branch of the Iranian Republican Guard Corps. My sources agreed this is far to sophisticated an operation for the Mahdi Army or Badr Corps, while al-Qaeda in Iraq would have a difficult time mounting such an operation in the Shia south. "The Karbala Government Center raid the other day was a little too professional for JAM [Jaish al-Mahdi, or the Mahdi Army]," according to a military source.

I'd read the rest. If this is proven true I would love to see the Democrats stand in the way of any retaliation and still pretend as if they support the troops.

"I am tired of people saying you're unpatriotic simply for not caring when US forces are murdered! [applause.]"

Weapons-Free Space

Hypocrite, sort of:

Russia's Putin, India call for 'weapons free' space

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for a "weapons free outer space," after China staged a satellite-destroying weapons test.

"The fundamental position of the Russian Federation is that outer space should be absolutely weapons free," Putin told a joint news conference in New Delhi.

Well gee Putin, we respect your desire for a weapons-free space. How about you and the US work together to make that space Iran. Reflect on that.

I Miss The Cold War...

Well, Russia has gone ahead and filled Iran's missile order, selling them some 29 "Tor M-1 missiles." This story makes me miss the Cold War, when we had an excuse to wipe Russia off the face of the earth. I certainly hope if we ever go to war with Iran and these weapons are used against American troops that Russia is held accountable for their irresponsible actions.

And one question in all this; where's the UN? Shouldn't they be doing something to stop the sale of missiles to an evil regime that has declared its desire to destroy Israel and the West? Speaking of Israel, let's hope they go through with their plans to nuke Iran's nuclear facilities, and while they're at it, nuke these new missile systems, too.

Iran Bars Inspectors, Asks For Ass-Kicking

Boy, Iran is already well on its way to an Iraq-style ass-kicking: "Iran bars 38 U.N. IAEA inspectors." Invading would be worth it to see Mahmoud hang.

The Next Holocaust

Big ol' hat tip to Little Green Footballs for an essay by Benny Morris, that is a very chilling portrayal of how Israel may one day be wiped off the map by Iran:

The second holocaust will be quite different. One bright morning, in five or 10 years, perhaps during a regional crisis, perhaps out of the blue, a day or a year or five years after Iran's acquisition of the Bomb, the mullahs in Qom will convene in secret session, under a portrait of the steely-eyed Ayatollah Khomeini, and give President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, by then in his second or third term, the go-ahead.

The orders will go out and the Shihab III and IV missiles will take off for Tel Aviv, Beersheba, Haifa and Jerusalem, and probably some military sites, including Israel's half dozen air and (reported) nuclear missile bases. Some of the Shihabs will be nuclear-tipped, perhaps even with multiple warheads. Others will be dupes, packed merely with biological or chemical agents, or old newspapers, to draw off or confuse Israel's anti-missile batteries and Home Front Command units.

With a country the size and shape of Israel (an elongated 20,000 square kilometers), probably four or five hits will suffice: No more Israel. A million or more Israelis in the greater Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem areas will die immediately. Millions will be seriously irradiated. Israel has about seven million inhabitants. No Iranian will see or touch an Israeli. It will be quite impersonal.

I try to be optimistic, but I really to worry that this is a very, very plausible event in our world's future.

US Has Plans For Destroying Iran - And Every Other Country

U.S. contingency planning for military action against Iran's nuclear program goes beyond limited strikes and would effectively unleash a war against the country, a former U.S. intelligence analyst said on Friday.

"I've seen some of the planning ... You're not talking about a surgical strike," said Wayne White, who was a top Middle East analyst for the State Department's bureau of intelligence and research until March 2005.

"You're talking about a war against Iran" that likely would destabilize the Middle East for years, White told the Middle East Policy Council, a Washington think tank.

"We're not talking about just surgical strikes against an array of targets inside Iran. We're talking about clearing a path to the targets" by taking out much of the Iranian Air Force, Kilo submarines, anti-ship missiles that could target commerce or U.S. warships in the Gulf, and maybe even Iran's ballistic missile capability, White said.

1) Good, 2) We probably have contingency plans for attacking every country, and 3) Too bad the Democrats won't let the President do anything about Iran. Oh yeah 4) This "top Middle East analyst for the State Department's bureau of intelligence and research" probably has the longest title I've ever seen.