Iraqis know who the enemy is

…even if some of our fellow Americans don’t. Gateway Pundit has the goods:

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I received this email earlier today: The following is my translation of a headline and article in the September 15 edition of the Iraqi Arab newspaper “Nahrain” “Loyal Iraqi civilians arrest Terrorist in Al-Kademiah.” “A number of Iraqi loyal civilians arrested 4 terrorists who were trying to launch rockets to kill innocent people in the Al-Kademiah in the early afternoon (of wed Sept. 14). After Al-Kademiah residents saw the terrorists preparing the rockets to be fired randomly at civilians they, over powered them, arrested them and confined them to a local house. The civilian’s then called the Iraqi security forces who now have them in custody for questioning. This brave and heroic stance of the citizens of Al-Kademiah and their resolve to cooperate with Iraqi security forces in defeating terror and building a free, democratic Iraq free of criminals who want nothing but to kill Iraqis and return them to the dark days which buried the glow of freedom and democracy. Join us to defeat terror by contacting one of these hot lines: Baghdad 813-2426, 813-2429, or 07901737723, 07901737724, 07901737725, 07901737726, 07901737727 or send an email to baghdadtipshotline@yahoo.com.” My [e-mailer's] comments: Progress towards the rule of law, freedom and democracy is unstoppable and is proliferating. You will notice that all we heard and read about are the terrorist attacks that were carried on the September 14, not the ones that were thwarted and defeated. Regards, Haider Ajina McKinleyville, CA

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Also in this post is an exerpt and a link to a US Defense Department release regarding the status of operations in northern Iraq which, I’m betting, you haven’t seen much of on the nightly news. You should go have a look.

“It’s not about blame – that’s history.”

Engineers examining the phycial mechanics of Katrina’s effects on Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans are saying that floodgates proposed decades ago could have prevented the flooding of much of New Orleans in the wake of the hurricane. In 1965, Hurricane Betsy came ashore near New Orleans and caused flooding, though not as severe as what we saw 2 weeks ago. President Lyndon Johnson ordered the Army Corp of Engineers to build floodgates on the Lake at that time because studies showed that a Category 3 hurricane could cause the Lake to rise by as much as 12 feet which would put the water level over the top of the levees and flood the city. (Sound familiar?) The floodgates were never built.

Why, you ask? Because an environmental group called “Save Our Wetlands” filed a lawsuit to stop the project, citing the interests of marine life in the area. As a result of that lawsuit the gates were never built. No floodgates, no method of reducing the water level in the Lake. So, when Katrina blew past she raised the water level in the Lake and it overtopped the levees. That the 17th Street levee was breached only added to the problem – the flooding was already in progress. The reason the flooding happened was foreseen 40 years ago and the effort to deal with it proactively was halted in its tracks. So, what does this group have to say about that now?

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“It is not about blame — that’s history. What this is about is saving and protecting lives,” said Valsin Marmillion of American Wetlands. “Any proposal has to be done in concert with saving the wetlands. It is not either/or. It is people figuring out the best science to do this.”

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Emphasis mine. In the past 2 weeks there’s been a huge amount of commentary suggesting that the government didn’t do what it was supposed to in years past and that this lapse should have ramifications descend upon the current government because, well, they’re to blame. Now, when the shoe is on the other foot, suddenly that’s all just history and we need to just move right along. Nothing to see here. If they want this to be “not about blame” then they need to make an effort to avoid casting blame as their first order of business. Oh, and we can have both lifesaving methods and wetlands protection if someone will just figure out the best science.

They did figure out the best science to handle things, 40 years ago. But the short-sightedness of a group who placed fish above people rather than recognize that people have every right to survive and protect themselves, too, kept that science from being applied. How am I supposed to trust that the descendents of that group will recognize “the best science” when they see it?

(Updated to correct the date of Hurrican Betsy from 1968 to 1965. Thanks to my readers for pointing that out!)