Jesse Jackson Says Quoting Him Incites 'Fear and Divison'

I guess being quoted as saying "Zionists control American foreign policy" has caused the anti-Semitic creep Jesse Jackson some problems.

Too damn bad.

Jesse Jackson has lashed out at Post columnist Amir Taheri for having the temerity to take note of some Jackson predictions on how a President Barack Obama would approach the Middle East.

The "Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades" remain strong, Jackson told Taheri at the World Policy Forum in France, but the "decades of putting Israel's interests first" would end during an Obama presidency.

Not surprisingly, those words had Obama's aides quickly running for cover.

A spokesman stressed that Jackson is "not an adviser to the Obama campaign and is therefore in no position to interpret or share Barack Obama's views on Israel and foreign policy."

As for Jackson himself, he accused our colleague of trying "to incite fear and division" and of "selectively imposing his own point of view and distorting mine."

But he didn't actually deny saying what Taheri said he said. And, Jackson's protests notwithstanding, there's really no alternate interpretation to a charge that "Zionists . . . have controlled American policy for decades."

Again, he meant what he said.

Until things blew up in his face.

Obama's hacks objected to the report.

Barack Obama's campaign yesterday sharply rejected a Post columnist's report that Jesse Jackson expects the Democrat to reduce Israel's clout at the White House.

Jackson himself denounced columnist Amir Taheri for "selectively imposing his own point of view and distorting mine" in the Tuesday column.

The column said Jackson predicted to a policy forum in France last week that "decades of putting Israel's interests first" would end, and added in an interview that Zionists would lose a great deal of their clout if Obama is elected.

So accurately quoting Jackson is out of line, but repeating a big lie during a debate is an acceptable practice.

Team Obama: Bringing us all together.

Obama Goons Threaten Amir Taheri

Now that Amir Taheri has exposed Barack Obama as a fraud who tried to interfere with American negotiations in Iraq, suddenly Obama is silent on the matter.

Though isn't it ironic that the man who promises to brings us all together has a legion of thugs who are now threatening the author?

Read the entire column by Taheri, as it's devastating to Obama. Not that any other media outlets will bother to mention it.

But this part is quite interesting. And I hope Taheri hands over the details to the authorities.

While I am encouraged by the senator's evolution, I must also appeal to him to issue a "cease and desist" plea to the battalions of his sympathizers - who have been threatening me with death and worse in the days since my article appeared.

Why does the left hate free speech so much while pretending to be guardians of it?

More on Obama-Taheri here.

Nitric Acid Seized in Baghdad

Our enemies in Iraq have been using chlorine bombs for some time now, and troops have found caches of nitric acid after a tip from locals.

U.S. troops said yesterday that they had found two large caches of nitric acid a highly corrosive substance with chemical weapons potential in abandoned houses used by Sunni insurgents in western Baghdad.

Other chemically laced bombs used in terrorist attacks recently have been spiked with chlorine.

Acting on a tip from neighbors, members of the Stryker Brigade's Alpha Company found 31 barrels of nitric acid Saturday in the walled-off front yard of a house that had been raided less than two weeks earlier.

Members of the same company were clearing another abandoned house a few hundred yards away when they found an additional two 5-gallon containers of nitric acid.

They also discovered four 50-pound bags of an unknown powder, artillery casings filled with the powder, several buckets for mixing, zinc oxide and benzene.

Nitric acid "is one of the chemicals used to make homemade explosives," said Sgt. 1st Class Douglas Wallace, battalion medic for the 2nd battalion, 3rd infantry regiment of the 3-2 Stryker Brigade.

"It's an acid and causes chemical burns to the skin and burns the lungs and esophagus if it is inhaled," Sgt. Wallace told The Washington Times.

Capt. Jon Fursman of the Stryker Alpha Company said that eight men had been arrested at the first house and that neighbors had alerted U.S. forces to the chemicals.

"All were clearly labeled in English, with standard hazmat labels," said Capt. Fursman.

It will be interesting to see where these came from, but I have my suspicions.

Meanwhile, for opinion on Iraq and Iran, Peter Brookes today has Iran's Evil Game, while Amir Taheri has Nouri Nixing Tehran's Tyrants, both recommended reading.

Also at Weasel Zippers.

Pelosization of the Middle East

Amir Taheri demolishes the pathetic Nancy Pelosi. The damage done by this idiotic woman could be incalculable.

Hating America, Loving Nancy

What would the Middle East look like if the Pelosi Doctrine becomes the matrix of U.S. foreign policy?

America would withdraw from Iraq before the new Iraqi regime is capable of defending itself against its internal and external foes. Iraq's fate would be in the hands of rival regional powers - led by Iran's Islamic Republic - along with their clients in Iraq.

Afghanistan's new democratic regime would also come under possibly fatal pressure. The country's fate would then be in the hands of rival powers - notably Iran, Pakistan and Russia - in conjunction with their Afghan clients.

In the absence of pressure from Washington, the region's current trend toward reform and liberalization would largely come to a halt. Concerned about the rise of radical forces and greater hostility from revolutionary actors, such as the Islamic Republic in Tehran and the revived al Qaeda, Arab regimes would postpone democratization and revert to repressive methods.

Lebanon's "Cedar Revolution" would fade into memory, as Syrian troops return to Beirut to resume occupation.

The Pelosization of U.S. foreign policy would also encourage the "one-state" camp with regard to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Most regional powers support a two-state solution in the context of the Saudi Peace Proposals - but the two-state option is based on the assumption that America remains an active element in its support, rather than a mediator hedging its bets.

Pelosization could plunge the Middle East into endless civil and regional wars, facilitate the return of terrorist organizations now facing defeat and ultimate destruction, and, in time, threaten U.S. national security on a grander scale. That, in turn, could force the United States into wars bigger and costlier than the ones in Afghanistan and Iraq that Pelosi regards as mistakes.

Opinion Journal also weighs in this morning.

So this is Democratic foreign policy: Assure our enemies that they can ignore a President who still has 21 months to serve; and wash their hands of Baghdad and of their own guilt for voting to let Mr. Bush go to war. No doubt Democrats think the President's low job approval, and public unhappiness with the war, gives them a kind of political immunity. But we wonder.

Once we leave Iraq, America's enemies will still reside in the Mideast; and they will be stronger if we leave behind a failed government and bloodbath in Iraq. Mr. Bush's successor will have to contain the damage, and that person could even be a Democrat. But by reverting to their Vietnam message of retreat and by blaming Mr. Bush for all the world's ills, Democrats on Capitol Hill may once again convince voters that they can't be trusted with the White House in a dangerous world.

The blood will be on their hands.

Big Iranian Fish

Amir Taheri has a good roundup of events regarding Ali-Reza Askari.

A VERY big fish" - so Tehran sources de scribe former Deputy Defense Minister Ali-Reza Askari (sometimes called "Asghari" in the West), who disappeared in Istanbul on Sunday.

Askari's disappearance fits an emerging pattern. Since December, the United States and its allies appear to have moved onto the offensive against the Islamic Republic's networks of influence in the Middle East:

* Jordan has seized 17 Iranian agents, accused of trying to smuggle arms to Hamas, and deported them quietly after routine debriefing.

* A number of Islamic Republic agents have been identified and deported in Pakistan and Tunisia.

* At least six other Iranian agents have been picked up in Gaza, where they were helping Hamas set up armament factories.

* In the past three months, some 30 senior Iranian officials, including at least two generals of Revolutionary Guards, have been captured in Iraq.

Read the remainder.

Allahpundit has some other interesting details.

Biggest Iraq Threat Lies in Washington

Amir Taheri has an excellent column in the New York Post today updating the situation in Iraq and noting the insurgents and Shiite militias are facing enormous problems. Realizing they cannot defeat us militarily, their strategy is to play the useful idiots in Washington, where, sadly, they have made great inroads. Read the whole piece, but the kicker is here.

The Iraqi version of the Taliban, plus al Qaeda and Shiite mischief-makers, can't win a military victory in Iraq just as their counterparts in Afghanistan failed to achieve victory.

With a combination of intelligence, patience and determination, Petraeus can win in Baghdad.

The battleground where his chances do not appear as good is Washington. The United States today has become home to a veritable industry of defeat - producing books, TV documentaries, research papers, intelligence analyses and feature movies destined for a growing market. Almost every day, some article assuming that the United States has already been defeated in Iraq, and recommend measures to deal with the consequences of defeat. And when the United States does something, it does it Big: The defeat industry is assuming a bewildering scale.