January 06, 2006

Murtha Says it Out Loud: He “Worries About” a U.S. Victory in Iraq

Representative John Murtha has now actually said it out loud :

Appearing at a town meeting in Arlington, Virginia, with fellow Democratic Rep. James Moran, Murtha said, "A year ago, I said we can't win this militarily, and I got all kinds of criticism." Now, Murtha told the strongly antiwar audience,"I worry about a slow withdrawal which makes it look like there's a victory when I think it should be a redeployment as quickly as possible and let the Iraqis handle the whole thing." 

He opposes anything that could make it look like he was wrong when he said the U.S. could have no victory.  

He actually opposes anything that even 'looks like' a U.S. victory.

Nothing could more dramatically dramatize that Liberals who take positions saying that the U.S. cannot succeed, are forced to root for U.S. failure, so as to keep from having their own predictions proved wrong  

Sunnis in Iraq Finally Start to Notice that Al Qaeda is Killing Muslims

Enraged Sunnis Blame Al-Qaida:

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The residents of Ramadi had had enough. As they frantically searched the city's hospital for relatives killed and wounded in bomb blasts at a police recruiting station Thursday, they did something they had never publicly done: They blamed al-Qaida in Iraq, the insurgent movement led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

"Neither the Americans nor the Shiites have any benefit in doing this. It is Zarqawi," said Khalid Saadi, 42, who came to the hospital looking for his brother, Muhammed. Saadi said he hoped that sympathies in the city, considered a hotbed of support for the Sunni Arab insurgency, would turn against al-Zarqawi's faction.

Saadi later learned that his brother was one of at least 130 people killed in attacks Thursday in Iraq, most occurring within an hour's time.

...The attacks came a day after insurgents killed 42 people at a funeral in the city of Muqdadiyah.

Vermont Judge No Longer Believes in Punishment, and Frees a Brutal Rapist

Judge Edward Cashman  of Vermont has gotten the goofy notion that his job is to support criminals. He doesn't want to see them punished, since he believes punishment won't improve them:

Claiming he no longer believes in punishment, a Vermont judge issued a 60-day sentence to a man who confessed to repeatedly raping a girl over a four-year period, beginning when she was 7 years old. 

..."The one message I want to get through is that anger doesn't solve anything. It just corrodes your soul," Cashman told a packed Burlington courtroom made up mostly of people related to the victim.

Perhaps the judge is speaking of himself. He may feel that serving as a judge and handing out punishment has 'corroded his soul.'

That's specific to him. If he feels like that, he should quit being a judge -- which essentially is what he's doing by refusing to protect society by punishing criminals.

The judge has forgotten that removing punishment for vicious crime, will encourage others to commit similar crimes.

Judge Cashman should resign.