DARTH SADR

Muqtadah al-Sadr, Southern Iraq’s half-baked “cleric” (he’s not really a cleric) has offered to go mano-a-mano with al-Qaeda in Iraq, provided that he, himself, does not have to be one of the manos.  If the attacks, which killed as many as 69 and wounded as many as 115 yesterday, were in fact al-Qaeda, then engagement by al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army would play right into al-Qaeda’s hands.  It would deliver them the sectarian war that many, including al-Qaeda and Muqtadah al-Sadr would just love to reignite in Iraq.

Listen to “Need to Know!” for more background on al-Sadr.  This guy’s a real turd.

AFP Baghdad – “The government is free to refuse (our offer) but we are always ready to help,” added the radical Shiite leader, whose Sadrist political movement could be the kingmakers in Iraq’s next government.

“Friday’s attacks were the most deadly since Iraq’s March 7 general election, and came just days after the government said Al-Qaeda was on the run.

The violence in the capital, which also wounded 115 people, underscored the unrest that continues to plague a nation whose politicians are struggling to form a government seven weeks after the election.

More here.

My scant 23-year naval career tells me this was a very well targeted amidships strike that broke the South Korean ship’s keel.  To quote Richard Dreyfus, playing Matt Hooper in “JAWS”… “This was no boating accident!”

Again, here we have a emboldened North Korea, which announced on April 21st, that it had no plans to abandon its nuclear weapons program, but would only produce limited numbers to control proliferation.  Well, South Korea must be breathing a huge sigh of relief over that, as it extricates the bodies of its dead sailors from the doomed warship knowing that it has now gone from a position of being able to do little about the North’s dangerous excesses, to being able to do nothing about them.

RIA Novosti Image - North Korean Mushroom Farm

This, I remind you all, is child’s play compared to what we face with a nuclear armed Iran.

AFP, SEOUL — First inspections of the bow of a South Korean warship show it was hit by an outside impact of considerable force, a military official said on Saturday, as suspicion increasingly falls on North Korea.

The Cheonan sank and was split in half after a mystery blast on March 26 close to the disputed border of the two Koreas, leaving 40 sailors confirmed dead and six others still unaccounted for.

Seoul has been careful not to point the finger directly at the North over the incident in the Yellow Sea, which has stoked already tense ties, and Pyongyang has denied it was to blame.

However, the South’s Yonhap news agency on Thursday quoted a senior military source in Seoul as saying it was suspected that North Korean submarines attacked the ship with a heavy torpedo.

AFP Image - Stern of S. Korean warship lifted from water

AFP Seoul – On Saturday, salvage teams took their first look at the bow section after it was hauled to the surface a day earlier, finding another body and more evidence a strong external blast was to blame.

Quoting an unidentified military official, Yonhap said initial inspections confirmed a large iron gate was off its hinges and a chimney was missing.

AFP Image - Yellow Sea North Korea vs. South Korea naval engagements

“This means there was a strong impact from the outside,” the official said

Read more here.

In a photo finish, Iran was edged out of First Place in the Annual “Most Absurd International Summits” International competition.   Finishing first was the Obama administration’s summit of the world’s most menacing nuclear nations, such as: Canada, Malaysia, and Nigeria.  Now some nuclear club members, like China and India, were in attendance and China even agreed to “analyze” ways that it “may” someday possibly work with the UN Security Council to craft harsh sanctions against Iran, which of course is a long road down which one may kick a can.  Now, we must be careful how harsh the sanctions are that China bravely agreed to begin thinking about analyzing in case for which it someday may vote in favor.  Remember, harsh sanctions could be harmful to the people of Iran, a position that Russia has declared it cannot support… SHEESH!

See my Iran posting below.  This gives them ever more of what they need; the FINAL component of their nuclear weapons program: TIME!

tick tock, tick tock, tick tock…

We’ll see who the real bully is when Iran has a nuke, unfortunately… chances are we will see.

More on the First Runner Up in Annual “Most Absurd International Summits” International competition, Iran, here.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced on Friday during “Iran Nuclear Day” that Iran could not turn back from its nuclear progress and that the nation would become a nuclear power whether its “enemies liked it or not.”

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock..



Sung to the tune of "All We Need is Love"... "... all together now, ALL WE NEED IS TIME, LA, LA, LA, LA, LA, ALL WE NEED IS TIME TIME, TIME IS ALL WE NEED..."

Getty Images - Polish President Lech Kaczynski, RIP

We mourn the loss of Poland’s freedom-loving president and son, Lech Kaczynski, who ascended to the Polish Presidency in 2005 while his twin brother, Jaraslow, rose to the Prime Minister’s post.

Need to Know! mourns the loss of this great and brave leader.  Sad his last impressions of the U.S. government may have been those of disappointed and disillusionment.  Pray for Poland and the Kaczynski family.