Matthew Burden of Blackfive is a finalist in a contest where the award is a $10,000 scholarship.

In my opinion, Blackfive is one of the best milblogs on the web and if you could give him a hand by taking less than a minute to vote for him at College Scholarships.org, I am certain it would be much appreciated.

There are twenty finalists for this scholarship so every vote for Matt will help. Thanks in advance.

Far be it from me to try to understand this move by the Clinton camp.

Sandy Berger, who stole highly classified terrorism documents from the National Archives, destroyed them and lied to investigators, is now an adviser to presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Berger, who was fired from John Kerry’s presidential campaign when the scandal broke in 2004, has assumed a similar role in Clinton’s campaign, even though his security clearance has been suspended until September 2008. This is raising eyebrows even among Clinton’s admirers.

“It shows poor judgment and a lack of regard for Berger’s serious misdeeds,” said law professor Jonathan Adler of Case Western Reserve University, who nonetheless called Clinton “by far the most impressive candidate in the Democratic field.”

Adler told The Examiner that it is “simply incomprehensible to me that a serious contender for the presidency would rely upon him as a key foreign policy advisor.”

He added: “If Senator Clinton becomes the Democratic nominee, at some point she will begin to receive national security briefings that will include sensitive information. At such a point, continuing to keep Berger on board as a key advisor, where he might have access to sensitive material, would be beyond incomprehensible.”

Unless there is a huge favor to be repaid to Mr. Berger for his theft and destruction of federal property, the logic behind this move will reamin a mystery. Perhaps recruiting new blood has become difficult for the Senator’s campaign. After all, she has surrounded herself with the same individuals who insulated another Clinton from the press and public.

I would not think in a Presidential campaign one would want to open themselves up to the type of scrutiny that bringing Mr. Berger aboard should receive. Then again, if you can simply offer “no comment” each time a controversial situation is addressed (and get away with it), then I suppose you can pretty much do as you please.

When I read this article I wondered if the Israeli leadership has rocks in its collective head:

A confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday that his government would support a division of Jerusalem, which is reportedly a key component of an Israeli-Palestinian declaration to be made at a U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference next month.

As part of recent negotiations between the sides, Deputy Vice Prime Minister Haim Ramon has proposed turning over many of the Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem to the Palestinians. Ramon said the Palestinians could establish the capital of a future state in the sector of the city, which Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war.

In return, Israel would receive the recognition of the international community, including Arab states, of its sovereignty over Jewish neighborhoods and the existence of its capital there, Ramon said.

If they believe giving back land that is historically theirs and where the Temple of God stood, with remnants still remaining, is going to make the Palestinians peaceful and Arab nations recognize Israel’s right to exist, they are in a parallel universe.

This is land given to the Jews before they were called Jews. They were Hebrews at that time. The land was given to them by God Almighty Himself. Jerusalem was the favorite city of Jesus, the Son of God.

What right do they claim to give away one grain of sand of this land to anyone? They fought and bled for this land in the 1967 war and, for the first time in centuries, were able to worship at the walls of the destroyed Temple.

This is a holy place to many Israelis and to just give it to the Palestinians to run is a disgrace, in my view.

Israel says she will not give over control of the Temple Mount, but how much harder will it be to defend it when they have the Palestinians swarming around even more than now on that hallowed ground?

Each day I pray for wisdom for Israel’s leaders, and each day I pray for peace in Jerusalem, which will only come for real when Jesus plants His foot on that soil again.

I just don’t see peace between Jew and Arab in that part of the world no matter how much Israel gives. Soon the Arabs won’t have to push Israel into the sea because they will have done it for themselves.

Hopefully, the Israeli people will rise up against this atrocity, but if not, I will have to assume it is part of God’s great plan.

Check this link for the Jerusalem Post article on the same story.

Nathaniel Helms at Defend Our Marines has written a very interesting piece with information on the Haditha case which I have read no where else to this point.

Buried in the mountain of exhibits attached to the once secret Haditha, Iraq murder inquiry prepared by US Army Maj. Gen. Eldon A. Bargewell is an obscure Marine Corps intelligence summary (see pdf) that says the deadly encounter was an intentional propaganda ploy planned and paid for by Al Qaeda foreign fighters.

Veteran military defense attorney Gary Meyers said he never understood why the Naval Criminal Investigative Service special agents leading the Haditha criminal investigation didn’t “examine the linkage” between Al Qaeda, the local insurgency and the events at Haditha. Meyers was an attorney on the defense team that successfully defended Justin Sharratt, a Marine infantryman accused of multiple murders at Haditha.

The report – apparently overlooked by a Washington press corps awash in leaked Bargewell documents and secret Naval Criminal Investigative Service reports – shows that Marine Corps intelligence operatives were advised of the scheme to demonize the Marines by an informant named Muhannad Hassan Hamadi. The informant was snared by 3/1 Marines on December 11 2005 and decided to cooperate.

I too would be puzzled as to why this angle was not pursued further. With no other sources on this particular aspect of the case, it is difficult to draw any conclusions. However, in reading this entire article, it seems as though there was enough intelligence and information to believe that the Haditha attack may very well have been set up by the enemy and used as propaganda when filtered through the American press.

What leads me to believe there is far more to this case then the public has been told is the fact that it has unraveled to the point where all major charges have either been dropped or it has been recommended that they be dismissed or reduced. We shall know more soon I believe, but until then, the article noted may answer some questions for those of us who have questioned this entire case from its inception.

HT:
Clarice Feldman

It seems to me if candidates are going to give the same speech everywhere they appear they should be prepared for some of the same questions being asked of them instead of accusing the questioner being a plant.

Case in point:

Randall Rolph said he came to New Hampton, Iowa, on Sunday to see Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) with an open mind about whether to support her candidacy. After a tough exchange over Iran, he left saying he had ruled her out.

Rolph was one of several hundred people who turned out in this small town in northern Iowa for Clinton’s appearance. When she called on him for a question, he pulled out a piece of paper and read a question about Iran.

Rolph asked Clinton to explain her Senate vote Wednesday for a resolution urging the Bush administration to label the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization. Rolph interpreted that measure as giving Bush authority to use military action against the Iranians.

“Well, let me thank you for the question, but let me tell you that the premise of the question is wrong and I’ll be happy to explain that to you,” Clinton began….

…and then pointedly said to Rolph that her view wasn’t in “what you read to me, that somebody obviously sent to you.”

“I take exception,” Rolph interjected. “This is my own research.”

“Well then, let me finish,” Clinton responded.

Rolph, from nearby Nashua, fired back that no one had sent him the material.

“Well, then, I apologize. It’s just that I’ve been asked the very same question in three other places,” she said….

…Rolph once again challenged her recent vote, suggesting that it amounted to giving Bush a free hand.

“I’m sorry, sir, it does not,” she said, her voice showing her exasperation….

If she stays on the campaign trail long enough her overpowering way of talking and acting will come out for the voters to see what they are really assessing as a possible president.

The major media has used every tool at their disposal to inform us that the “Bush economy” has not been profitable to “regular” Americans.

In my mind, if you have strong employment and very low unemployment, it seems to benefit all citizens. Flip at Suitably Flip details the record now held by this Administration in the area of job creation.

I lamented last month that the 47-month streak of consecutive job creation had apparently finally snapped. According to the Labor Department’s preliminary August reading, the economy lost 4,000 jobs that month, the first decline since August 2003. This meant the duration of the economic boom (as measured by job creation) that followed Bush’s 2003 investment income tax cuts had fallen just shy of the record-setting 48-month streak that followed Reagan’s 1986 tax cuts.

Today, however, not only does the Labor Department show a September payroll increase of 110,000, but it revised the August estimate from a decrease of 4,000 to an increase of 89,000. At 49 months (assuming future revisions don’t reverse September’s gains), the Bush streak now stands alone as the longest unbroken period of job creation since we started tracking it in 1939.

[Emphasis Added]

Be sure to check out the update to this post and see how Senator Clinton pounced on that negative 4,000 number..I wonder if she has or will correct herself anytime soon now that the numbers have been revised upwards.