Lt. Col Ralph Peters on Looking For Trouble: Adventures in a Broken World

One of our favorite guests is retired Lt. Col Ralph Peters. He has a fantastic new book out that I highly recommend.

Looking For Trouble: Adventures in a Broken World

As the U.S. Army’s chosen troubleshooter before he took off his uniform to write, Peters saw the greatest international dramas of our times and the personal tragedies they created from a truly unique perspective–and took advantage of every moment _outside of the wire._ The result is startling: the liveliest adventure memoir by an American in decades, a perfect balance of high drama and laugh-out-loud hilarity.

As I told Ralph tonight before the show, I laughed out loud every few pages. This is a fascinating, educational and gripping book, beautifully written.

What is Pundit Review Radio?

Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin and Gregg give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 7-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.

CNN’s Muslim Propaganda

We will be interviewing Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch and author of the new book “Religion of Peace: Why Christianity is and Islam Isn’t.” cIurrently ranked #129 at Amazon.

Spencer has this to say of CNN’s 6 part series on “religious fundamentalism” this week:

CNN pretends that Judaism, Christianity, Islam all equally likely to incite violence
Just as my book Religion of Peace? confronts this very notion. Ms. Amanpour, I am available to provide for you an alternative view.

“CNN explores religious fundamentalism,” by David Bauder for AP (thanks to all who sent this in):

NEW YORK - Christiane Amanpour’s work on the documentary series “God’s Warriors” took her directly to intersections of extreme religious and secular thinking.
She watched, fascinated, as demonstrators in San Francisco accused teenagers in the fundamentalist Christian group BattleCry of intolerance in a clash of two cultures that will probably never understand each other.

Amanpour was one of the last reporters to talk to the Rev. Jerry Falwell. She interviewed him a week before he died about the legacy of the Moral Majority, the organization that thrust evangelical Christians onto the political stage.
The segment on Christians explores BattleCry in some depth, digging at the roots of an organization that fights against some of the cruder elements of popular culture and urges teenagers to be chaste. In noting how girls at some BattleCry events are encouraged to wear long dresses, Amanpour asks the group’s leader how it is different from the Taliban.

Well, uh, Ms. Amanpour, one might note the absence of AK-47s, the lack of opposition to the education of girls, the absence of burqas, the absence of divine sanction for wife-beating, and sundry other things. Unless you’re too blinded by political correctness to notice, as is evidently the case.

In a non-judgmental way, she visits a family that is home-schooling its children and explores the influence of Evangelicals on the courts.

Homeschooling is evil too? Sheesh. Over 9,000 terror attacks committed in the name of Islam since 9/11, and Christiane Amanpour is spending her time demonizing homeschoolers.

rest click here

Is This Israel’s Fault Too?

The Arab Palestinians who have been used as a pawn by the Muslim countries (who refuse to absorb them into their own countries) surrounding Israel as an excuse to brand Israel as “occupiers.” So, once again, in an effort to establish “peace” with the Palestinians, 2 years ago:

Israel evacuated all 9,000 Israelis living in Gaza and four northern West Bank communities in an effort to pave the way for peace and a future Palestinian state. During the disengagement, Israel uprooted entire communities including schools, businesses, places of worship and the only Jewish cemetery there.

So, did this, essentiallly unilateral act of good faith, lead to “peace” for the Palestinians?

Not exactly.

In return for this painful sacrifice, which Israel carried out Aug. 15, 2005, Gaza has been converted into a launching pad for rockets. Since the withdrawal, more than 1,500 Qassam rockets have been fired into Israel’s southern Negev region. The attacks have killed six civilians and injured hundreds more and hit areas where Gaza evacuees were relocated.

Iran-backed Hamas has been chiefly responsible for the Qassam attacks, but other Palestinian militant groups also have taken credit, such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Fatah party’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Popular Resistance Committees. These groups, along with Hamas, have continued to launch Qassam rockets and mortars at Israel on an almost daily basis since disengagement. During a particularly violent period — May 15 to May 31, 2007 — more than 300 Qassam rockets were launched from Gaza at Israel.

Have the Palestinians been any safer now that the “occupiers” evacuated from Gaza and 4 West bank settlements?

Overall, Palestinian internal violence has dramatically increased in the past two years. During the first seven months of 2007 alone, 415 Palestinians were killed, including 28 children, and another 2,022 Palestinians were injured - all at the hands of other Palestinians

And what of the plight of the 9000 evacuees who fled their homes, businesses, and lives to make way for “peace?”

Psychologically: Gush Katif evacuees, subject to continuing financial and social difficulties, are increasingly seeking mental and emotional support

Physically:Research at the Ashkelon Regional Health Bureau and Ashkelon’s Barzilai Medical Center has shown a notable rise in deaths among the evacuees; Their findings also show that former residents are suffering from a significant increase in medical maladies including cancerous growths, heart problems, diabetes, high blood pressure and asthma attacks.

Economically: Evacuees continue to be affected by a very high rate of unemployment, currently 37 percent (about 1,450 people), according to the SELA Disengagement Authority;

Here is the entire article and time line.

Among Islamic countries there is no desire to live “side by side” Israel. The goal is to destroy her. I believe that it was a big mistake for Israel to cede control of Gaza and portions of the Weest Bank. It has not led to the promised “peace.” And it has not made the Israeli people any safer. The only thing that the Islamists understand is raw power and force. Israel should quit paying lip service to “peace” with their surrounding neighbors who for the most part don’t even acknowledge their right to exist as a sovereign nation. On the bright side, perhpas this farcical “peace plan” (disengagement from Gaza) will finally make clear the absurdity of such endeavors. Perhaps people will come to finally understand that a significant portion of the Arab world’s definition of “peace” is not living “peacefully side by side Israel” but the total destruction of the Jewish people of Israel. Plain and simple.