...to End all Attack Ads.

I CAN ONLY HOPE, that should I ever feel the urge to run for office, I don't have a bunch of my former fellow officers waiting to ambush me like this.

On the other hand, I've never gone before Congress and declared my brothers-in-arms to be a bunch of war criminals, so I guess I have nothing to worry about in that department.

BREAKING NEWS FROM CNN:

Intelligence found in Pakistan suggests that suspected al Qaeda operatives in that country contacted an individual or individuals in the United States in the past few months, according to two senior U.S. government sources. […]

In addition, two senior Pakistani intelligence sources told CNN that there is evidence at least six individuals in the United States were contacted by Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, an alleged al Qaeda operative who was recently taken into custody in Pakistan. (Hat tip: Michele)

This would appear to support my analysis that Khan was a critical node in the al Qaeda communications network, and that his capture constitutes a major breakthrough in the global struggle against terrorism.

ARE THESE PEOPLE SINCERE?

The Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism is a nonprofit organization made up of American Muslims and American Arabs of all backgrounds who feel that religious violence and terrorism have not been fully rejected by the Muslim community in the post 9-11 era.

The Coalition was created to eliminate broad base support for Islamic extremism and terrorism and to strengthen secular democratic institutions in the Middle East and the Muslim World by supporting Islamic reformation efforts.

The Coalition promotes a modern secular interpretation of Islam which is peace-loving, democracy-loving and compatible with other faiths and beliefs.

I sure hope so...

DENYING MARRIAGE LISCENSES to same-sex couples is a violation of their constitutional rights, a Seattle judge ruled Wednesday.

"The denial to the plaintiffs of the right to marry constitutes a denial of substantive due process," King County Superior Court Judge William L. Downing said in his ruling. (ABC NEWS)

But don't try to book your gay wedding in the Great Northwest just yet...

His decision is stayed until the state Supreme Court reviews the case, meaning no marriage licenses can be issued until then, said Jennifer Pizer, lead counsel in the case for Lambda Legal Defense in the case.

I, for one, am suspicious about the timing of this ruling...

XRLQ provides some preliminary legal analysis.

THE RECENT CAPTURE of al Qaeda’s “technical support guy,” Naeem Noor Khan, may be much more important than originally thought, AFP reports.

Naeem Noor Khan, 25, alias Abu Talha, arrested in the eastern city of Lahore on July 12, "is in the top hierarchy of Al-Qaeda's external operations wing," a security official closely associated with the latest Al-Qaeda swoop told AFP Wednesday.

Khan had not only been creating websites and secret email codes for Al-Qaeda operatives to communicate with each other, he had also actively plotted terror attacks, the official said on condition of anonymity.

"He was involved in planning for attacks at Heathrow airport London some time ago and was wanted by the US government," the official said, but was unable to say exactly when the Heathrow attack was planned.

Since Khan’s capture, 18 more suspected al Qaeda members have been swept up in Pakistan. Information gleaned from his computer files also lead to the current security alerts in New York and Washington. And perhaps most importantly, another senior al Qaeda operative was recently arrested in Britain based on clues recovered from Khan's files.

That arrest may have lead in turn to the arrests of twelve suspected al Qaeda operatives in and around London yesterday. It appears that a major node of the al Qaeda organization has been collapsed, and authorities are following that thread as far as it will lead them.

CAPTAIN ED believes this could be a watershed event.

Capturing Khan may well turn out to be the biggest turn in the war since the fall of the Taliban, as the hard data seized along with Khan has already begun unraveling large parts of the AQ network and shown their strategies for future attacks. […]

The capture of Khan is not merely just a case of arresting a teen hacker, but perhaps more along the lines of the British capturing the Enigma machine from a Nazi submarine in World War II. It's interesting -- and revealing -- that the press has mostly missed what potentially may be the most significant recent victory in the war.

Yeah, but what about the suspicious timing of this development?

I’M NO MARKETING EXPERT, but I have to wonder how something like this will affect album sales:

The Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Death Cab for Cutie, Bright Eyes, Jurassic 5, My Morning Jacket, Ben Harper, Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, the Dixie Chicks, Jackson Browne, James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt are among the artists taking part in the Vote for Change Tour, which will hit key battleground states across the country in early October.

The tour, presented by MoveOn's political action committee and America Coming Together (ACT), will feature more than 20 bands and artists. With all proceeds benefiting ACT's voter education and mobilization efforts in battleground states, the Vote for Change Tour kicks off on October 1 and runs through October 8, according to MoveOn.org.

Maybe these artists assume that all of their fans agree with their political views. Maybe they don’t care. But without getting too specific, I own albums by at least three of the bands headlining this tour. I won’t stop listening to the music I already own, nor will I change the station on the radio when their songs come on the air. Good music is good music, after all.

But the next time I’m shopping for music or considering going to a concert, I’ll probably think twice before supporting one of these artists – because I wouldn’t want my hard-earned money going to support a group like MoveOn.org.

I suspect that I’m not the only person who feels this way. How about you?

ARMY PROSECUTORS charged that PFC Lyndie England and others abused Iraqi prisoners "just for fun," AP reports.

On the first day of a hearing to determine whether England, 21, should be court-martialed for her actions at the prison, witnesses testified that the naked detainees shown with her in human pyramids and tethered to a leash were common criminals of little value to interrogators, abused for sport.

An Army investigator, Paul Arthur, testified that when he interviewed England about the photos three months before they became public, she told him they were taken while ''they were joking around, having some fun, during the night shift.''

I don't get the joke.

...WHAT IF the U.S. hadn't invaded Iraq?

A MESSAGE FROM BLACKFIVE:

I have said before that I'm the luckiest SOB that you ever met. Lucky? Sure. To this day, I still don't know why I'm around, but, after many years, I have learned to accept each day a gift - an extraordinary gift by the Grace of God.

Everyone, say hello to Grace.

Welcome to the world, Little One.

TWO SUSPECTED AL QAEDA MEMBERS have been arrested in Pakistan, Reuters reports.

In the latest arrests, one man was apprehended at a bus stop in the Hafizabad town in Punjab province, but officials were unsure of his nationality.

"He first said he was from Yemen but later changed his statement to say he was Egyptian," one of the officials, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. "We are still checking his nationality. He does not have a passport."

In another swoop, authorities arrested a foreign al Qaeda suspect along with two Pakistanis who were traveling to the eastern city of Lahore, also in Punjab, from the nearby town of Sheikupura Monday night.

These arrests most likely came as a result of intelligence gleaned from the recent capture of two other al Qaeda members, Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan and Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, last month.

MEANWHILE in New York City and Washington, several financial buildings remain on high alert due to intelligence gleaned from the recent captures.

But some government officials are privately questioning why the alert was announced, when much of the information appears to be at least three years old.

"There is nothing right now that we're hearing that is new," said one senior law enforcement official who was briefed on the alert. "Why did we go to this level? . . . I still don't know that."

This has prompted some partisans, including former presidential candidate Howard Dean, to openly question whether the terror alert was raised for political reasons.

"I am concerned that every time something happens that's not good for President Bush, he plays this trump card, which is terrorism,'' Dean said in an interview with CNN. "It's just impossible to know how much of this is real and how much of this is politics, and I suspect there's some of both in it."

To his credit, John Kerry has publicly distanced himself from Dean’s remarks.

COUNTER-TERRORISM is a very serious business. We shouldn’t have to keep reminding ourselves of this self-evident fact, but in an election year, almost any news story can rapidly devolve into a partisan mudfest.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

In my military career, I’ve been involved in counter-terrorism since 1999. During that time, I’ve seen numerous threat briefings that attempted to extrapolate possible terrorist strategies out of the most obscure bits of intelligence. We routinely ramp up security on the flimsiest of premises, as a matter of policy. I’ve personally ordered specific security measures in response to analysis of vague, uncorroborated intelligence reports dating back five, six, and even seven years.

Why do we do this? Because the best deterrence against terror attack is to present a “hard target profile” to the would-be attackers. We know that al Qaeda operatives typically spend several months or even years surveiling a potential target, probing for weaknesses. By increasing security of likely targets on the basis of the slightest intelligence (or even at random), we can disrupt their planning process, and possibly force them to abandon a plan altogether.

The easiest time to thwart a potential terrorist plan is during this critical planning period. If the surveillance can be detected, it may be possible to track the movement of the reconnaissance elements, and ultimately bust an entire terrorist cell.

But typically, the critical piece of information that thwarts an attack won’t come from captured documents, or even trained security personnel. It generally comes from an alert civilian who witnesses suspicious activity, and reports it to authorities.

As the heroes of Flight 93 demonstrated on that horrible day three years ago, every one of us is a soldier in the war against terrorism.

Is your head in the fight?

UPDATE: British Intelligence is interrogating an al Qaeda member who claims that attacks against American financial institutions have been planned for early September, Newsday reports.

The operative, described as "credible" by British intelligence, told his debriefers that the attack would take place "60 days before the presidential election" on Nov. 2, according to a former senior National Security Council official. On Sept. 2 President George W. Bush is expected to address the Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden.

Corroboration, or disinformation?

UPDATE 2: Thirteen men have been arrested in and around London "on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism," Sky News reports. (Hat tip: Jeff Quinton)

THESE FOLKS are not al Qaeda, but they also appear to be planning for violence in September. (Hat tip: Allah)

BUSH ANNOUNCED HIS PLAN to overhaul national intelligence agencies Monday, AP reports.

Under the reorganization Bush is backing, the CIA would be managed by a separate director and the national intelligence director would assume the broader responsibility of leading the intelligence community government-wide.

"I want, and every president must have, the best, unbiased, unvarnished assessment of America's intelligence professionals," Bush said.

Don't be fooled by bureaucratic org-chart shuffling -- fixing our national intelligence problems is going to take many years, several billion dollars, and a culture change within the various intelligence agencies.

This shouldn't be a partisan issue, but of course it already is one.

MICHAEL MOORE may have doctored images of an Illinois newspaper in his controversial film Fahrenheit 9/11, AP reports.

“If (Moore) wants to ‘edit’ The Pantagraph, he should apply for a copy-editing job,” the paper said.

It's not his fault -- he's just another stupid white man!

SOMEONE just sent me an email with photographs of a "secret" new Navy aircraft, a "Mach 3.5 (top speed in the Mach 4 range), super-cruise stealth fighter/bomber/interceptor with approximately a 4000nm range."

Looks pretty awesome, doesn't it?

Don't get too excited, it's not a real aircraft. It's a model of the fictional F/A 37 Talon, for the upcoming Hollywood movie Stealth.

SPEAKING OF FAKES, here's a cautionary tale about a Navy captain who ruined his career, marriage, and life by wearing medals he never earned.

[Capt. Roger Dean] Edwards, 54, effectively ended a 36-year military career on Friday with a guilty plea to charges he fraudulently wore 12 medals, nearly half the total on his uniform at the ceremony. Among them was the Silver Star, the military’s third-highest award for valor under fire, and the Purple Heart, given for wounds suffered in combat.

Dumbass.

US AND IRAQI FORCES have surrounded the Najaf residence of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, AFP reports.

US armoured vehicles, backed by Iraqi security forces, cordoned off the Al-Zahra neighbourhood, where Sadr's home is located in the eastern part of the city.

Stay tuned...

UPDATE: BBC reports that US troops have withdrawn from the area around Sadr's house, but remain in the city.

Was this meant to be a warning to Sadr, or was it an aborted attempt to capture him?

No comment yet from US military officials.

ONCE AGAIN, Chief Wiggles needs your help.

And this time, it won't cost you a cent...

SECURITY HAS BEEN TIGHTENED around several buildings in and around New York City and Washington DC in response to unusually specific terror intelligence, AP reports.

Officials have warned that the al-Qaida network, blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, may launch a large-scale assault in hopes of disrupting the Nov. 2 elections and demonstrating that it remains capable of offensive actions despite international efforts to combat terrorism.

An example of that international cooperation, Sunday's warning stems in large part from Pakistan's capture of an al-Qaida operative several weeks ago, a U.S. counterterrorism official said, speaking only anonymously. Officials would not identify the operative.

That detention led to the discovery of the documentary information about the extensive surveillance of the five buildings, the counterterrorism official said. The official said the scouting was going on before and after Sept. 11, 2001, but it's unclear how recently.

The following buildings were included in the threat report:

- International Monetary Fund Headquarters, Washington.
- World Bank Headquarters, Washington.
- Prudential Financial Building, Newark, NJ.
- Citigroup Building, New York.
- The New York Stock Exchange.

This is perhaps the clearest indication to date that one of al-Qaeda's chief objectives is to disrupt the US economy. According to the captured intelligence, these institutions have been on Bin Laden's target list since before September 11, and planning apparently continued after the attacks.

They're not giving up. We can't, either.

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL in Newburgh, New York, John Kerry approached a group of US Marines enjoying lunch at a Wendy’s restaurant.

The Marines — two in uniform and two off-duty — were polite but curt while chatting with Kerry, answering most of his questions with a "yes, sir" or "no, sir."

But they turned downright nasty after the Massachusetts senator thanked them "for their service" and left.

"He imposed on us and I disagree with him coming over here shaking our hands," one Marine said, adding, "I'm 100 percent against [him]."

A sergeant with 10 years of service under his belt said, "I speak for all of us. We think that we are doing the right thing in Iraq," before saying he is to be deployed there in a few weeks and is "eager" to go and serve.

Perhaps they hadn’t heard that Kerry served in Vietnam. He even got three Purple Hearts.

(Hat tip: Greyhawk)

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL is reporting today that Sandy Berger has been cleared of any suspicion of withholding documents from the 9/11 Commission. (subscription required)

Archives spokeswoman Susan Cooper said officials there "are confident that there aren't any original documents missing in relation to this case." She said in most cases, Mr. Berger was given photocopies to review, and that in any event officials have accounted for all originals to which he had access.

This would appear to lay to rest any theories that Berger was attempting to hide potentially embarrassing information from the commission, which released its final report last week.

An investigation into Berger’s improper handling of highly classified material, including copies of the Millennium plot after-action report, remains open.

Mr. Berger's lawyer has said his client returned all of the photocopies after he was questioned about missing items by archives staff. But officials have said they are still looking into whether some of the photocopies may have been destroyed. It is illegal to remove classified material in any form from the archives.

No charges have yet been filed.

(Hat tip: Sonny)

JOHN KERRY delivered a good performance tonight.

I wasn't impressed so much by the content of the speech, which at points was all too reminiscent of the typical "laundry list" State of the Union addresses which we have all come to disdain. No, what struck me was Kerry's presence on the stage. He appeared confident, and dare I say it, "strong."

It wasn't a perfect performance, to be sure. He stumbled noticeably at least a couple of times, at one point referring to "hair pollution," and at another speaking of "Senator and menators of Congress." He also appeared to rush a bit through the natural breaks in the speech, when he could have waited for the applause and cheers to build.

I also think he may have overplayed the military angle a little bit. I understand he's trying to reassure us about his commitment to national security, but methinks he doth protest too much...

But overall, Kerry gave a solid performance, which is exactly what he needed to do.

It's going to be a tough, hard-fought presidential campaign, folks.

UPDATE: I watched the speech on MSNBC, so unfortunately I missed this bit of family entertainment.

THE BUSH CAMPAIGN responds to Kerry's speech.

JAMES JOYNER has an extensive roundup of reactions.

MEANWHILE, outside the Fleet Center, hundreds of Vietnam veterans marched in opposition to Kerry's candidacy.

“While we honor John Kerry’s service in Vietnam for a couple months, we totally abhor the lies (Kerry) told the country about us being war criminals while he admitted being a war criminal.”

Basically, the Democrat “Emperor has no clothes.” His entire campaign revolves about a few months in Vietnam decades ago; the circumstances of which are contradicted by most of us who were there and knew him.

And the beat goes on...

PAKISTANI OFFICIALS announced the capture of suspected terrorist Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani on Sunday, AP reports.

Pakistan has arrested a Tanzanian al Qaeda suspect wanted by the United States in the 1998 bombings at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the interior minister said Friday. He said the suspect was cooperating and had given authorities "very valuable" information.

Ghailani, who is on the FBI's list of Most Wanted Terrorists, was indicted by the US government in 1998 for the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. He had a $25 million bounty on his head.

Ghailani is not the first "big fish" terrorist to be arrested in Pakistan. 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was captured in Rawalpindi in March 2003, and al Qaeda leaders Ramzi Binalshibh and Abu Zubaydah were nabbed in 2002.

Expect more arrests in the coming months.

PEJMAN YOUSEFZADEH proclaims, "Let the conspiracy theories begin!"

THE NEW REPUBLIC declares this event a "July Surprise."

HOLDEN questions the timing of this announcement.

JOSH MARSHALL: "This is just the latest, but perhaps the most blatant, example of how this administration has placed politics and, really, political dirty tricks above national security itself..."

NICK CONFESSORE: "But hey, at least nobody is firing the Travel Office staff, right? Or losing money on Arkansas land deals? Now those were abuses of power we could get angry about, right?"

KEVIN DRUM muses, "Maybe it's time to get measured for a tinfoil hat after all."

BOB HARRIS whines, "The world shouldn't be this predictably goddam awful..."

ROOFTOP REPORT opines, "this is one conspiracy theory that needs to be put to rest."

THOMAS NEPHEW sees a "transparent, manipulative gimmick."

SCOTT SALA, on the other hand, sees a "diligent diplomatic effort to save our country from the fate of Spain."

ACE OF SPADES requests of the left, "Please inform us all of when America is permitted to attack or capture Al Qaeda operatives."

VETERAN POLITICOS say that party platforms have been rendered meaningless over the years. Nobody pays them much attention; and once elected, the candidates feel little obligation to stand by their own party's stated agenda.

Nevertheless, they are worth examining, if only to get a better grip of how the respective parties choose to present themselves. It seems to me (although others may have a very different perspective), that the Democrats tend to write their platform with an eye towards attracting the undecided voters, while the Republicans generally use theirs as a tool to keep their base happy.

Most voters never bother to read them. Except me.

The Democrats have just released their 2004 Platform: Strong at Home, Respected in the World.

I'm going to take some time to read it over, with an eye towards the unwritten, between-the-lines messages. My readings of these "hidden messages" are in italics.

NOTE: This is not the complete platform. It's 41 pages long, and I don't have that much free time on my hands. If you want to read the whole thing, you can find it here.

PREAMBLE

...For the first time in generations, we have been attacked on our own shores. (Bush failed to protect us!) Our brave men and women in uniform are still in harm's way in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the war against terror. (Bring them home now!) Our alliances are frayed (Europeans hate Bush!), our credibility in doubt. (Bush is a liar!)

Our great middle class is hard-pressed. (Bush screwed up the Clinton economy!) Millions of Americans have lost their jobs (Bring back the Tech Bubble!), and millions more are struggling under the mounting burden of life's everyday costs (We need single-payer health care, like Canada!). [...]

A STRONG, RESPECTED AMERICA

...The might of our alliances, coupled with the strength of our democratic ideals, has been a driving force in the survival and success of freedom – in two World Wars, in the Korean War, in the Cold War, in the Gulf War and in Kosovo. America led instead of going it alone (the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, Spain, Netherlands, Australia, South Korea, Romania, Japan, Bulgaria, Denmark, Thailand, Honduras, El Salvador, Hungary, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Singapore, Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Norway, Latvia, Portugal, Lithuania, Slovakia, Philippines, Czech Republic, Albania, Georgia, New Zealand, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Moldova, and Tonga don’t count). We extended a hand, not a fist (bombing Serbia was humanitarian, liberating Iraq was imperialism). We respected the world – and the world respected us. (Bush has alienated the French and the Germans!) […]

But the Bush Administration has walked away from more than a hundred years of American leadership in the world to embrace a new – and dangerously ineffective – disregard for the world (France and Germany).

They rush to force before exhausting diplomacy. They bully rather than persuade. They act alone when they could assemble a team (see the list of excepted nations above). They hope for the best when they should prepare for the worst. (We should have sent MORE troops to Iraq!) Time and again, this Administration confuses leadership with going it alone (see the list) and engagement with compromise of principle (we should have waited for inspections to work, again). They do not understand that real leadership means standing by your principles and rallying others to join you (waiting for France and Germany).

Our overriding goals are the same as ever: to protect our people and our way of life (no more terrorist attacks, we promise!); and to help build a safer, more peaceful, more prosperous, more democratic world (unless we have to fight for it). Today, we face three great challenges above all others – first, to win the global war against terror (force a peace plan down Israel’s throat and run like Hell); second, to stop the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons (pay off Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, etc.); and third, to promote democracy and freedom around the world (send Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton on fruitless “peace missions”), starting with a peaceful and stable Iraq (we’ll get those troops out of there as soon as we think we can get away with it).

To meet these challenges, we need a new national security policy guided by four new imperatives: First, America must launch and lead a new era of alliances for the post-September 11 world (make nice with France and Germany). Second, we must modernize the world's most powerful military to meet the new threats (but not if it’s too expensive).

Third, in addition to our military might, we must deploy all that is in America's arsenal – our diplomacy (France and Germany), our intelligence system (reconnaissance satellites only), our economic power (sanctions not war), and the appeal of our values and ideas (they don't hate us, they just hate Bush).

Fourth and finally, to safeguard our freedom and ensure our nation's future, we must end our dependence on Mideast oil (but no new drilling in Alaska, or off California or Florida, or in the Gulf of Mexico).

DEFEATING TERRORISM

Today, the Bush Administration is waging a war against a global terrorist movement committed to our destruction with insufficient understanding of our enemy (Bush is stupid) or effort to address the underlying factors that can give rise to new recruits (like our support for Israel). […] Despite his tough talk, President Bush's actions against terrorism have fallen far short (he’s all bark and no bite). He still has no comprehensive strategy for victory (he’s incompetent). After allowing bin Laden to escape from our grasp at Tora Bora, he diverted crucial resources from the effort to destroy al Qaeda in Afghanistan (he couldn’t finish the job). His doctrine of unilateral preemption has driven away our allies (France & Germany) and cost us the support of other nations (China & Russia).

We must put in place a strategy to win – an approach that recognizes and addresses the many facets of this mortal challenge, from the terrorists themselves to the root causes that give rise to new recruits (our support for Israel), and uses all the tools at our disposal (like diplomacy, sanctions and cruise missiles). Agents of terrorism work in the shadows of more than 60 nations, on every continent. The only possible path to victory will be found in the company of others (France & Germany), not walking alone. With John Kerry as Commander-in-Chief, we will never wait for a green light from abroad when our safety is at stake (except from France & Germany), but we must enlist those whose support we need for ultimate victory (say it with me: “France & Germany”).

Victory in the war on terror requires a combination of American determination and international cooperation (with France & Germany) on all fronts. It requires the ability and willingness to direct immediate, effective military action when the capture or destruction of terrorist groups and their leaders is possible (with French and German approval); a massive improvement in intelligence gathering and analysis (but not actual spies) coupled with vigorous law enforcement (in absentia indictments); a relentless effort to shut down the flow of terrorist funds (in a culturally sensitive manner); a global effort to prevent failed or failing states that can become sanctuaries for terrorists (massive aid to prop up floundering third-world socialists and other tyrants); a sustained effort to deny terrorists any more recruits by conducting effective public diplomacy (we’ll ask them nicely not to kill us); and a sustained political and economic effort to improve education, work for peace, support democracy and extend hope (pay them off with more foreign aid).

Improving intelligence to find and stop terrorists. […] From the failure to uncover the September 11th plot (Bush’s fault) to the deeply misguided reports about Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction (Bush lied), we have experienced unprecedented intelligence failures in recent years (which had nothing to do with the hobbling of the CIA by the Church Commission). We must do what President Bush has refused to do (in the one week since the 9/11 Commission made the recommendation) – reform our intelligence system by creating a true Director of National Intelligence with real control of intelligence personnel and budgets.

We must train more analysts in languages spoken by terrorists. And we must break down the old communications barriers between national intelligence and local law enforcement (erected during the Clinton Administration), taking care to fully preserve our liberties (repeal the Patriot Act).

Cutting off terrorist funds. […] We will launch a "name and shame" campaign against those that are financing terror. If nations do not respond, they will be shut out of the U.S. financial system (you are either with us, or you are – wait, scratch that). And in the specific case of Saudi Arabia, we will put an end to the Bush Administration's kid-glove approach to the supply and laundering of terrorist money (Bush is in bed with the terrorists).

Preventing Afghanistan and other nations from becoming terrorist havens.[…] We must expand NATO forces (Frermany) outside Kabul. We must accelerate training for the Afghan army and police. The program to disarm and reintegrate warlord militias into society must be expedited and expanded into a mainstream strategy (we’ll do the same things Bush is doing, but FASTER). We will attack the exploding opium trade ignored by the Bush Administration (because he wants minorities to get hooked on drugs) by doubling our counter-narcotics assistance to the Karzai Government and reinvigorating the regional drug control program (which we criticized Bush for funding before September 11).

Beyond Afghanistan, terrorist attacks from Saudi Arabia and Indonesia to Kenya, Morocco, and Turkey point to a widening network of terrorists targeting this country and our friends (Bush’s fault). Failed and failing states like Somalia or countries with large areas of limited government control like the Philippines and Indonesia need international help (Frermany) to close down terrorist havens.

Increasing public diplomacy to promote understanding and prevent terrorist recruitment. […] America needs a major initiative in public diplomacy to support the many voices of freedom in the Arab and Muslim world. To improve education for the next generation of Islamic youth, we need a cooperative international effort (Frermany) to compete with radical Madrassas. And we must support human rights groups (like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Red Cross, Medecins sin Frontiers), independent media (like al-Jazeera), and labor unions (our socialist brothers and sisters) dedicated to building a culture from the grassroots up.

More to follow...

THIS WAS INEVITABLE, wasn't it?

A two-hour chase scene.

B

Rated PG-13 for "Violence and Intense Action, and Brief Language." May be too intense for some children.