By Debbie Schlussel

**** SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATE ****

I am very saddened to learn that while I was away for the Jewish Sabbath, General Alexander Haig–a great American and proud friend of the Jewish people and Israel–passed away.  I am blessed that I had the opportunity–in my late teens and while working in Washington during college summers–to meet General Haig on several occasions.  This proud patriot who served the country for most of his life was a great man and a key general in the Reagan Revolution, who made his mark on the Middle East, Central America, and the Soviet Union. And on the battlefield during the Vietnam War, this real-life American hero engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the VietCong to save the troops in his unit, who were outnumbered. Both my father and I were huge fans of this tremendous mensch and all-around class act.  He was the living, walking definition of the word, “statesman.”

A brave warrior-diplomat, General Haig’s legacy is that–as Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of State–he rebuilt America’s image around the world, post-Jimmy Carter, into one in which the world not only feared the United States, but respected it.  A Four-Star General, Haig didn’t do this by orchestrating Reagan speeches to the Muslim world begging them to like us and using his State Department to promote Islam and bring Muslim students here.  No, he was smarter than that and didn’t believe in appeasement.  Along with Reagan UN Ambassador Dr. Jeane Kirkpatrick, also now gone, he took the “kick me” sign off America’s back (the same sign that returned ever since Bill Clinton took office).  There is a reason there were no Islamic terrorist attacks on U.S. soil during Alexander Haig’s tenure in the Reagan White House. ( In fact, even the terrorist attacks against America overseas–the Hezbollah bombing and mass murder of 300 U.S. Marines and civilians in the barracks and U.S. Embassy in Beirut and torture murders of Navy Diver Robert Dean Stethem, CIA Attache William Buckley, and Col. Rich Higgins–all happened on his successor, George Schultz’s watch, because under Schultz, President Reagan sent Marines to Lebanon to protect the P.L.O from the Israelis, a move Haig opposed.)

Haig was not only vigilant about America’s national security throughout his life–whether as a military man or as a key adviser to Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Reagan–but he was also proud to be a friend of Israel and the Jewish people.  He always believed in the special relationship between the U.S. and Israel and saw the tremendous strategic value of a strong U.S.-Israel alliance. Israel’s Moshe Arens, an Israeli diplomat and man whose opinions I greatly respect, captures it well in his farewell to Haig, “A Good Friend“:

Al Haig, who died yesterday, was a good friend to Israel – through thick and thin, both at the best of times and during difficult times. He never wavered in his friendship for Israel. A very cerebral man, Haig’s support for Israel was not only based on the rationale that the United States and Israel had shared strategic interests; it was also tempered by an admiration for Israel’s courage in the face of daunting odds. . . .

When I told him our prime minister, Menachem Begin, was concerned that after having made substantial concessions during the negotiations leading up to the peace agreement with Egypt, he might now be pressured by the White House to make additional concessions inimical to Israel’s interests, Haig responded by saying “not on my watch.”

Read the whole thing.

Secretary of State Alexander Haig w/ Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin

General Haig was light years ahead of his time in understanding the threat of Islam, jihad, and growing Arab nationalism around the world.  It is for that reason that he supported Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in the early 1980s, which was necessary to clean the PLO out of what had become known as “Fatahland.”  He also orchestrated a last-minute veto of the U.N. condemnation of the invasion.  And it cost Haig his Reagan Administration job.

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By Debbie Schlussel

Hampered by Obama/Napolitano constraints on any meaningful immigration enforcement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents did yeoman’s work and then some in busting Hezbollah operatives in Miami and South America.  The operatives included Muslim Arabs and Latinos, who illegally exporting electronics, digital cameras, and Playstation 2 video games to a South American shopping center which launders money to Hezbollah.

ICE Makes Major Bust in Hezbollah’s Latin American Network

The shopping center, Galeria Page in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, and its owner, Muhammad Yusif Abdallah, were classified by the Treasure Department as SDGTs (Specially Designated Global Terrorists) in December 2006 because they aided Assad Ahmad Barakat, who has been on the U.S. terrorist blacklist since 2004 and whose South American terrorist network is a key finance arm of Hezbollah and involves other key Hezbo financiers, Sobhi Mahmoud Fayad, Farouk Abdul Omairi, and Ali Mohamad Kazan.  The plot used here–pretending the merchandise was being shipped domestically–and using labeling applicable to that and not required Customs forms and declarations is a frequent Hezbollah technique.  The convicted Farhat Brothers, based in the Detroit area, did the same with counterfeit perfumes they actually sent elsewhere to raise money for Hezbollah.

The investigation and arrests announced, this morning, are a refreshing return to the kind of work the U.S. Customs Service Office of Investigations (which was absorbed into ICE) did under Operation Greenquest, the successful terrorist money-laundering investigation team once run by Marcy Forman-Friedman.  These terrorism investigations–since just after the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security–are normally the exclusive domain of Famous But Incompetent.  But, this time, the competent guys at ICE were the lead investigators on the case. The indictment was unsealed earlier today.

ICE agents who work these kinds of cases are always frustrated that their agency is only thought of as “the immigration agency.”  They do this kind of work, too, but usually get subverted by press-hungry FBI counter-terrorism agents.  Kudos to the ICE agents who foiled these cretins, after a three year investigation.  Four down, many more to go.

Samer Mehdi, 37, of Paraguay, Khaled T. Safadi, 56, of Miami, FL, Ulises Talavera, 46, of Miami, FL, Emilio Jacinto Gonzalez-Neira, 43, of Paraguay, Cedar Distributors, Inc. (Cedar), a Miami-based freight forwarding company owned by defendant Safadi, Transamerica Express of Miami, Inc. (Transamerica), a Miami-based freight forwarding company owned by defendant Talavera, and Jumbo Cargo, Inc. (Jumbo), a Miami-based freight forwarding company owned by defendant Gonzalez-Neira, were indicted on charges of conspiracy, 18 U.S.C. § 371, violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), 50 U.S.C. §§ 1701-1706, and smuggling electronic goods from the United States to Paraguay, 18 U.S.C. § 554. . . .

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By Debbie Schlussel

Meant to get to this, yesterday.  It’s important.  Think of this story, the next time anyone (like Jihad Grover Norquist) tells you that Muslims are pro-life (yeah, we’ve seen several thousand examples of just how “pro-life” they are–9/11, Hezbollah, HAMAS, Undiebomber, Shoebomber, etc., etc., etc.). Apparently, at least one devout Muslim has made his own real-life, tragic sequel to “Throw Momma From the Train”: Throw Baby From the Bridge.

And kudos–giant, mega-akbar kudos!–to The Star-Ledger of New Jersey for having the guts–the cojones!–to mention what would usually be whitewashed:  the perpetrators strong devotion to Islam and his trip to see his imam.

A tragedy, indeed, for this innocent, helpless baby girl:

The mother of a 3-month-old girl allegedly thrown from the Garden State Parkway’s Driscoll Bridge by her father Tuesday night pleaded today for her daughter’s safe return.

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By Debbie Schlussel

I wasn’t crazy about either of the two new releases at the box office, this weekend, but if you must go, the so-so “Shutter Island” is okay (for adults only).  Here are my reviews:

*  “Shutter Island“:  I have mixed feelings about this one.  It isn’t my favorite Martin Scorsese film (“The Departed” is–read my review).  It was okay–decent, but not great.  For what it is supposed to be–a psychological thriller, I suppose it’s good, in that it accomplishes its goal.  It was long, somewhat boring, and mostly a giant trick played on you that, if you’re smart, you’ll figure out (or, at least, have an inkling of it) by half-time.  Yup, it’s a set-up.  And if you figure it out, then it’s a waste of time.

Plus, I definitely could have done without the constant moral equivalency dialogue, implying that the U.S. government is testing mental patients and doing Mengele-style experiments on their brains “just like the Nazis and the Soviet gulags.”  Come on.  Even in this completely non-political thriller (that wasn’t that thrilling), they couldn’t resist in trying to make it political.  Plus the flashback scenes of Leonardo DiCaprio liberating Dachau and ice-sculpture trees of dead Jewish bodies was cinematic Holocaust-porn that had no place here.  At two hours and 19 minutes, this movie could have been trimmed . . . a lot.

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By Debbie Schlussel

Barack Obama’s close buddy, Jay-Z, shows us the REAL “post-racialism” that the Senator from Illinois’ election brought us. Translation: “post-racialism” = open season for Black people to practice racism against White people. Last year, his wife, Beyonce (who constantly tries to look White, but doesn’t get rejected from his parties), put out a racist anti-White movie, “Obsessed” (read my review). So, I guess he’s gotta catch up.

Jay-Z was caught up in a race row when bouncers at his BRITs after-show party “banned” white people from boozing with the star.

Jay-Z & Beyonce’s Obama Post-Racial Progress

Chart legend Jay-Z threw a lavish bash but music industry executives, journalists and revellers were turned away from the roped-off area because of the colour of their skin.

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By Debbie Schlussel

Are you kidding me? They are having live “Special Reports” on All Networks for the Tiger Woods Statement? ABSURD!!

I know people are interested in this.  But, really. . . .  Is some pro athlete sleeping around and then apologizing really the stuff of breaking national news that interrupts all programming?  I mean, not that I’d rather watch the hags of “The View.”  But this is ridiculous.

And now this Woods idiot is telling us that the answer to it all is Buddhism.  No offense to true Buddhists, who must be mortified by this.  But, uh, “We interrupt this program to bring you a religious lesson in Buddhism from a spoiled serial mass-philanderer gazillionaire. . . . brought to you by Pampers.”

Oy.  Turning my TV off.

By Debbie Schlussel

Don’t really care that Tiger Woods is having a press conference about his life of extra-marital Islamic-style harems.  Don’t care what he’ll say or whether the wife will be there standing by her man.  But this is somewhat funny.

By Debbie Schlussel

**** PLEASE NOTE UPDATE (within text) ****

Back in 2006, I received repeated e-mails from FOX News Channel Midwest Bureau Chief Todd Ciganek, **** UPDATE: who is now FOX News’ National News Editor ****.  He and his reporters constantly asked for my help on stories, after I broke them on my site and FOX News [a/k/a PAWNN, the Prince Al-Waleed News Network] ripped them off without credit.  I explained that I’m not a free researcher for his network, that I come with my stories and work, and asked why he doesn’t work for free for FOX News, as he expected me to do.  I told him to go ask FOX News’ many ignoramus “terrorism experts” to give him stories.  At a breakfast meeting later that year, he told me that whether or not I cooperated with FOX News and gave them my material, the network would rip it off and use it without crediting me, anyway, which he said he frequently did as a news director and reporter for a South Florida TV station.  And, so, it is in that same vein that I consider all “reports” from FOX News–i.e., that they are rip-offs from another source or person who actually did the legwork and isn’t getting the credit.

I assumed the same today, when I started receiving links to a FOX News story “by” Catherine Herridge, about a plot by “Arabic” translators to poison U.S. soldiers’ food at Fort Jackson.  [Memo to the Prince Al-Waleed Channel, they are MUSLIM soldiers, not just “Arabic translators.”]  And I was right.  My friend, Erick Stakelbeck of Christian Broadcast Network, is actually the one who broke the story and deserves the credit, which FOX News didn’t give him in this case.  Plus, he actually has the details and the guts to use the descriptor “Muslim,” as in “Muslim soldiers.”  PAWNN does not.  From Erick:

CBN News has learned exclusively that five Muslim soldiers at Fort Jackson in South Carolina were arrested just before Christmas. It is unclear whether the men are still in custody. The five were part of the Arabic Translation program at the base.

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By Debbie Schlussel

A few (very few) people commented that I’m not romantic, given my post about the realities of DREAD (Doghouse Risk Extra-Avoidance Day) a/k/a Valentine’s Day.  Not the case.  I just know what real love is.  And it ain’t an obligation day that forces men to buy cards, gifts, dinner, whatever to keep out of the doghouse with their wives and girlfriends, when they spend every single day struggling to make a living and support a family.

Robert Guerrero & Wife, Casey

And real love is this story.  Boxer Robert Guerrero knows that real love isn’t flowers or candy or perfume.  It’s sacrifice and doing the right thing for those to whom you are committed. And it’s refreshing to see a pro athlete like him versus the womanizing, sperm-donor babydaddy millionaires we usually see in professional sports.

Robert Guerrero announced Tuesday that he has vacated his junior lightweight world title in order to care for his ill wife, Casey, who is hospitalized and battling leukemia.

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By Debbie Schlussel

More Keystone Koppery at the Department of Homeland Security. On the one hand, 200 guns lost from thousands of agents is a small number. However, the 185,000 number is misleading, as a far smaller number of the 185,000 DHS employees are actually issued guns.

But one is a problem, especially if they fall into the hands of criminals. Part of the problem, also, is that Homeland Security–especially ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)–repeatedly issues guns to people who are not trained law enforcement agents and whom the regulations forbid from carrying one. Cronyism often wins out, such as friends of John Torres, former director of ICE Detention and Removal Operations.

The guns have been found in a fast-food bathroom, an idling car in a convenience store parking lot, a bowling alley, a toolbox in a truck bed, and even on a car bumper.  Stupid, stupid, stupid. And on that note, I’m reminded of a story told about a retired FBI Special Agent, who worked counterterrorism in the Detroit area (incompetently so). He was allegedly cheating on his first wife with another agent, and they went to Disney World together. But then, he and his fellow FBI agent lover had their guns stolen. They’d locked them in their car trunk and other parties saw and stole them, once they left the lot. That’s how the agent’s wife found out he was cheating on her. The agents must file a report, when their guns are stolen, lest it be used in a crime and they are framed, etc.

The nation’s Homeland Security officers lost nearly 200 guns in bowling alleys, public restrooms, unlocked cars and other unsecure areas, with some ending up in the hands of felons. The problem, outlined in a new federal report, has prompted disciplinary actions and extra training.

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