Iraqi Soldier Deliberately Kills Two American Soldiers

An Iraqi soldier has shot and killed two American soldiers and wounded three others, it has emerged.

The two American soldiers are pictured to the left, Captian Rowdy Inman to the far left, and Sergeant Bejamin Portell to the right.

The incident - thought to be the first of its kind since the US-led invasion of 2003 - happened on Dec 26 but details have only just been disclosed by US and Iraqi military officials.

The soldier was out on a joint US and Iraqi patrol in the northern city of Mosul when he opened fire. A civilian interpreter was also wounded in the attack.


The US military said it was not clear why the soldier had shot members of his own patrol.

But one Iraqi general said the soldier was "an insurgent infiltrator" with links to Sunni militant groups.

Huckabee Wins Iowa, Expect More Attacks from Punditry

The Christian Right and the Fairtaxers came through for Huckabee last night in the Iowa Caucus, giving him a substantial 11 point victory over Mitt Romney.

Huckabee's success is truly amazing when you consider how hard the Republican machine was working against him. Novak, Hannity, Limbaugh, Coulter, Malkin, Will, and about every conservative pundit with an audience was denouncing Huckabee as they bought into the Romney/Rudy/Thompson hysteria.

Expect the attacks on Huckabee to escalate. I fully expect Limbaugh to come out with a qualified official endorsement of Thompson or Romney before the New Hampshire primary, possibly even today.

The republican elites do not want to give up control of the party to the members, they are still feeling their oats after derailing the last amnesty bill and essentially killing the Harriet Myers nomination to the Supreme Court. They feel they are giving the Republican Party and even the president marching orders and they now have a huge problem with a strong Huckabee campaign that is not beholding to them.

But as Rush likes to say about the media: "If they don't make you, they can't break you".

Limbaugh, as the most powerful voice in the conservative movement, has been very disappointing.

He keeps saying "don't tell me Huckabee is a Reagan conservative". I don't know of anybody who is saying that Huckabee is a Reagan conservative. Maybe I'm just out of the loop.

Rush (and Hannity) also gives every Huckabee supporter on his show a raking over the coals, while giving Huckabee bashers a free pass.

One caller went unchallenged by Rush as he accused the Southern Baptists of being a religion that keeps women down and basically makes them slaves. Another female caller said she could never vote for an ex-minister, ex-rabbi, or ex-priest.

Both of these bigoted comments went unchallenged by Rush, yet he had no problem quoting Huckabee or Ed Rollins (Huckabee's campaign manager)out of context. You would think that Rush would have better sense than that after his "phony soldiers" controversy last fall!

And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Sean Hannity basically became a Romney advertisement on Thursday afternoon before the caucus, as he sucked up to Mitt and attacked Huckabee. Mitt went unchallenged on Hannity's show, and Sean wonders why Huckabee didn't come on that afternoon.

Ann Coulter made fun of Huckabee's stretch marks and basically said we could expect more stained dresses in the Oval Office if Huckabee gets elected.

The rank-and-file republicans see through this BS coming from the conservative pundits, explaining Huckabee's success in Iowa.

Record Snows Hit U.S.

To see how much you know about global warming, take the Global Warming Test

All across the northern United States, cities and states are reporting record snowfall.

Cities reporting record or near-record snowfall are: Detroit, Michigan; Aspen, CO; Boston, Mass; Oshkosh,Wisconsin; Laconia, NH; Rochester, NY; Salem, Mass; and Madison, Wisconsin.

The northern chill is even reaching into Florida, where the overnight low in sunny Daytona Beach is expected to be 30ºF.

Although this is all anecdotal evidence, it very clear that weather records (whether for record low temps or high temps, snowfalls, drought, or rain) are made to be broken.

Anecdotal evidence is not scientific. It's very small amounts of information based on what the observer can gain through their senses of sight, sound, feel, etc. Because our bodies and viewpoints can change minute by minute, anecdotal evidence like this is not reliable for coming to valid conclusions.

Just as being in the middle of a record snowfall does not mean there is no global warming, being in the middle of a drought or heat wave does not mean that global warming is occurring.

What's needed is reliable scientific data without any political or social biases. This is sorely lacking in the global warming debate today.

To see how much you know about global warming, take the Global Warming Test

Pro-Life Video: From Conception to Birth

2007: A Great Year in Iraq

Al-Qaeda out, troop deaths down as "Surge" works

The Iraqi interior ministry lauded its achievements over the past year on Saturday, saying that 75 percent of Al-Qaeda's networks in the country had been destroyed in 12 months.

Ministry spokesman Abdul Karim Khalaf also outlined sharp falls in the numbers of assassinations, kidnappings and death squad murders.

He told a news conference that increased patrols along the borders with Saudi Arabia and Syria had slowed infiltration by militants and played a key role in Iraq's improved security situation.

"We have destroyed 75 percent of Al-Qaeda hide-outs, and we broke up major criminal networks that supported Al-Qaeda in Baghdad," he said.

"After eliminating safe houses in Anbar province, which used to be Al-Qaeda's base, we moved into areas surrounding Baghdad and into Diyala province. Al-Qaeda headed north and we are pursuing them," he said.

Khalaf said kidnappings were down 70 percent and that an average of three to five people killed by death squads were being found each day in Baghdad compared with 15 to 20 a day in February.

Personnel with militant or criminal links had been weeded out from Iraqi security forces, he said, adding that Sunni-US alliances against Al-Qaeda had also significantly contributed to the drop in violence.

The dropping death toll of American soldiers also gives proof that the surge started in the summer of 2007 has worked spectacularly.

According to icasualty.org there were 14 American soldiers killed in hostile action in Iraq, down from 120 earlier in March of 2007.

“Every trend we watch is down roughly about 60 percent: civilian deaths, numbers of attacks, and thankfully our casualties are down as well,” Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, said on “Fox News Sunday.” “As we go into the new year, we clearly want to build on the momentum that has been achieved by our forces working closely together with Iraqi forces.”

Petraeus said Iraqi forces also had a surge this year, with 110,000 new Iraqi soldiers and police.

Petraeus appeared on the morning news program to discuss the release of this week’s quarterly report, “Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq.” With the success of the surges comes the question of reducing the number of U.S. forces in Iraq while maintaining the positive trends, he said.

“We want to reduce the strain on our ground forces as much as we can while recognizing that what has been achieved here remains tenuous and is still fragile in a number of areas,” the general said. “We have laid out a plan that will take us through the end of July, and it will result in the reduction without replacement of about one-quarter of our combat forces.”

Petraeus was cautious about committing to further troop reductions and reiterated that al Qaeda remains a significant threat. “Al Qaeda remains a very dangerous and very lethal organization, and it is one that will continually try to reconstitute and one that we must pursue tenaciously and relentlessly, and that is what we and our Iraqi partners are doing,” Petraeus said.