In today’s Sunday Times of London, I am breaking some distrubing news about Iran’s role in the insurgency in Iraq and about the CIA purported failure to warn our British allies about a plot to shot down their helicopters.

Last Spring, Iranian agents, coordinating with elements of the Mahadi Army, plotted to take out a British helicopter. It was code-named “Operation Hawk Taking.”

They succeeded, unfortunately. Minutes after take off, a Royal Navy Lynx helicopter was struck by a missile. The burning chopper plunged with a comet, smashing into a concrete house in shiite neighborhood in Basra.

Informants, telephone intercepts and missile parts proved that Iran supplied the “insurgents” with an SA-15, a post-Soviet sophisticated surface-to-air shoulder-fired missile system. While more than 20 nations have the weapon in their armory, all of the strands of evidence conclusively show that the missile came out of Iranian stocks.

That fact was made public for the first time in this story.

And there are a lot of other little scoops. Check it out.

Here’s a link to my investigation, which ran today in the Sunday Times of London.

My friend Flemming Rose launched his new Pajamas Express blog with a bang.

Check out his piece on the elevation of Salman Rushdie to the knighthood.

Rose interviews a comrade of mine, who goes by Ibn Warraq, on Rusdie’s gong.
Warraq wonders aloud if Britain was trying to send a signal to the Islamic fanatics that is vision of tolerance and free speech will not be cowed by fatwas and threats.

If only Warraq was right. If only the land of Wilberforce and Kipling and Churchill was as determined as the Danes to stand for liberalism. If only…

UPDATE: Link should work now. Thanks Brian!

Just got the uncorrected page proofs of Robert D. Novak’s memoir The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington.

Chapter one (”The Plame Affair”) is worth the price of admission by itself. It is honest and revealing. Several key points emerge: During the course of the leak (really an informal off-the-record conversation), when Armitage revealed Amb. Wilson’s role, he didn’t criticize Plame or Wilson. The intent, apparently, was not to smear, but to answer a more basic question: Why would a Clinton-era State Department official with no real intelligence-gathering experience be sent to Niger to snoop around? Indeed, why not simply ask the CIA station chief in Niger’s capital to investigate?

Next, Novak points out that the Justice Department (though not the White House) knew that Armitage was the leaker BEFORE Fitzgerald was appointed as a special prosecutor.

More to come. Also, see the Corn-Miniter show of two weeks’ ago for Mr. Corn’s take on these questions.

I plan to ask Robert Novak to come on the Corn-Miniter show to talk about the Plame affair. I’m sure Corn will want to ask some questions too.

In the meantime, pre-order Novak’s book on Amazon. It is fascinating. It will appear in book stores in July.

St. Andrews and St. Margarets, a small Anglican church, on Monroe Avenue in Alexandria, Virginia, is a conservative place.

The church congregation still reads from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and sings from the 1940 Episcopal hymnal. Men wear dark suits or military uniforms;the women wear dresses and hats.

So when I slipped into the last pew a few minutes into the service, I wasn’t expecting anything unusual. The Shakespeare-era language of the prayer book enveloped me and carried me along, as always.

Then came the sermon. Just as Father Nick started to speak, I heard a crunch. Then another one.

Could there be cockroaches in this old church?

Then a third crrruuunnch!

I looked over at the tall stranger sharing my pew.

He was clipping his nails during the sermon. I couldn’t believe it.

I coughed slightly.

A fourth nail was loudly clipped away.

I coughed a little more loudly.

He was either ignoring me or the shattering sound of his brittle nails being pared away crowded out my feeble coughs.

He positioned the silver clipper over his thumb nail. CRUNCH!

He was driving me crazy. But, I thought, at least he is done.

Then he started on the other hand.

I had no choice. I had to do something.

(more…)

The Council on American-Islamic Relations–its acronym is pronounced “care”–attacked the Washington Times today for accurately reporting information on its IRS Form 990 filings.

Those IRS forms show that the number of CAIR’s dues-paying members dropped from 28,000 in 2000 to 1,700 in 2006.

The CAIR attack has to be read to be believed. It referred to Audrey Hudson, a respected reporter at major newspaper, as a “hatemonger.” No evidence was given.

Next, it claimed that Hudson has a vendetta against CAIR because, get this, CAIR barred her from a recent press conference. Why is this tax-exempt self-described civil rights group keeping bona fide reporters from its press conferences?

What they really don’t like is that Hudson is an independent-minded investigator who has uncovered from damaging information about CAIR.

If a publicly traded corporation treated critical reporters like this, the New York Times wouldn’t have enough ink to print all of the indignant editorials and op-eds.

But CAIR is held to a lower standard. It can ban reporters from press conferences and demonize them–and no one cares. Pity that CAIR isn’t as critical of terrorists…

The golden mosque of Sammara’s two minarets dissolved in an explosion today, according to Associated Press reports.

Of course, al Qaeda is behind it. Just as the terror network was behind the February 2006 bombings that destroyed the mosque famous gold-gilt dome. This is straight from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s playbook, as Austin bay notes.

Al Qaeda’s no. 1 goal in Iraq is to foment and fight a civil war–which is why the MSM’s constant refrain that Iraq is in a civil war hands them a propaganda victory and advances their goals. Things become what they are called, all too often.

In its desperation, al Qaeda is repeating itself.

But this time it won’t work. A lot has happened since February 2006. American and allied forces, led by Gen. Petraeus, have a new strategy that fights terrorism like Guiliani fought crime–by increasing police presence in dangerous neighborhoods, clearing away the regulatory cobwebs that impede local initiative, by tracking attacks by computer and holding commanders responsible and, most importantly, treating minor offenses as real offenses, but nuisances to be forgiven or forgotten.

This time, the sunnis are against al Qaeda. For years, most sunni tribes have either sat on their hands or cheered on the insurgents. Some even joined with al Qaeda.

But a string of al Qaeda moves have driven the sunnis to switch:

The sunnis have noticed that civilians are main targets of al Qaeda’s attacks and that women and children are disproportionately among the dead. Every time al Qaeda hits an open-air market (or the checkpoints outside the new walled-in markets), it is the women doing the daily shopping who die. How would you feel about terrorists who killed your wife, mother, sister, daughter, son, neice, or nephew? Right. That’s how they feel too.

Al Qaeda’s so-called Just Punishment Brigades, which kill or maim women who refuse to cover their faces or men caught looking at Internet porn or any one of hundreds of other perceived violations of sharia law, are now hated as much as Saddam’s goons were. Too many sunnis have been beaten or shot for microscopic infractions. Al Qaeda’s cruel nature is now on full display. Another factor: the tribal leaders say that al Qaeda has bypassed their traditional role of punishing violations of sharia, a move the chieftains see as “unlawful.” Since al Qaeda is now viewed as a threat to authority (they really didn’t like al Qaeda’s complaint that the chiefs were too lenient) as well as their hold on power, the tribal leaders are leading their people away.

Add to all this, al Qaeda is not Iraqi. It is run by foreigners hiding in Afghanistan or Pakistan, funded by Saudi and Gulf Arabs, aided by Iran, and guided by a ideology–which Iraqis invariably call Wahabi and western scholars more precisely call salafi–that is not of Iraqi origin. Iraqis are among the most nationalistic peoples in the Arab world. They hate their neighbors who they say are trying to destroy them. You would be surprised how often this point comes up in casual conversations with them. They see al Qaeda as a foreign entity that has violated its obligations as a guest and has turned on their hosts.

Finally, al Qaeda has made serious political mistakes in Iraq. It has appointed a caliph without consulting Iraqi tribal or religious leaders. (A caliph is the supreme leader of the Muslim world who, like Mohammed, is a military, political and religious leader. The president, supreme court, congress and chairman of joint chiefs all in one.) The terror group compounded the mistake by appointing a cabinet leaders in a shadow government of Iraq, again without consulting tribal leaders. Even Saddam did not do that.

What can America do in the wake of mosque blast? Announce a multi-million fund to restore the mosque to its former glory. Declare that all Iraqis can bid on the contracts, sunni and shia. Do it in the Rose Garden tomorrow.

As thunder shook the house, sounding like a empty 40-gallon oil drum hurled down the concrete fire stairs of a skyscraper, my dog Boxer crouched in the cave below my desk.

When I saw this headline on realclearpolitics.com, I felt like joining him.

But then I read the article.

Here is a genuine voice from the American Muslim community. We should listen to it with some care. Several points emerge:

Being American is not his primary identity. Some might view that statement with alarm. But I know plenty of Christians who say that it is no accident that God comes first in the phrase “God and Country.”

Immigrants are people with heads and hearts in different places. And a place never entirely leaves us. Members of my Anglican church in Alexandria, Virginia still talk with bitter energy about Episcopal church politics, though they left that church’s pews more than 30 years ago. Like a snail and his shell, we carry past places with us wherever we go. This is especially true of immigrants.

But when the time comes, I think we can count on most of them. Check out the earlier post about CAIR. Nearly 27,000 American Muslims left that organization since 2000.

Immigrants can see past the P.C. nonsense. I find it fascinating that he sees the spirit of Christianity in American culture, a ghost (like wind) that is only seen when it moves something. His praying in a Methodist church is an interesting step, too.

American Muslims are more complex than many admit. This column is more evidence, if more is needed, that American Muslims are not a monolithic community that is all either reflexively against the war and the president (the left view) or planning the next terrorist attack (the right view).

Two of my closest friends are Muslims whose parents emigrated here from Syria and Iran. They are successful businessmen who voted Bush and now fear he isn’t prosecuting the war vigorously enough. They also think taxes are too high, regulations too costly and that the D.C. smoking ban violates individual and property rights. One sends me Christmas cards with the logo of the National Rifle Association on the back.

Okay, you can see why we get along. My point is that American Muslims are as different as other Americans. It is a simple point, but it gets lost sometimes.

This morning, on a tiny triangle of land near a train station on Capitol Hill, the Victims of Communism memorial was dedicated. Here’s the link.

As we move away from World War II, a war memorials have been getting smaller. The Korean War memorial is a patrol of stone men, looking somewhat lost. The Vietnam war memorial was a black marble v carved into the ground until protests forced the feds to put up three life-size GI statues. The look in their faces is not triumphant.

(Even though, when U.S. forces left South Vietnam in 1973, the Vietcong had ceased to exist as an independent fighting force and the North Vietnamese Army had been decisively beaten back.)

Now comes a monument to America’s victory in the Cold War, the nation’s longest war. We enjoyed an unambiguous victory–the Berlin wall fell, the Soviet Union dissolved and Russia legalized private property–but the memorial is the smallest yet.

In fact it is not even conceived of as a war memorial at all. It is a kind group tombstone for the 100 million killed by communists world wide.

Why isn’t there a place a honor for America’s spies and soldiers and its allied dissidents and exiles? They suffered and died so that more than one billion people could be free. Surely, their sacrifice is worth a few square feet on the Washington Mall?

CAIR, the lobby that claims to speak for America’s 7 million muslims, has suffered a dramatic decline in dues-paying members since the 9-11 attacks, tax records obtained by the Washington Times reveal.

CAIR’s membership dropped from nearly 29,000 in 2000 to 1,700 in 2006. Its budget from individual memberships also plummeted from $732,000 to $38,000 over the same period–despite a dues increase.

Several points emerge:

The incomparable Audrey Hudson does it again. Her report and her whole body of work exposing the “flying imams” and other outrages demonstrates the vital importance of investigative journalism. We need a 1000 more like Hudson. Her full article is here.

How can CAIR claim to speak for America’s Muslims when it has a smaller numbers than a Gay Pride parade? At 1,700, it represents less one-tenth of one percent of America’s Muslims. Why do so many radio and television producers give this marginal group a forum?

Despite its dramatic decline in members, its total budget has climbed from less than $1 million in 2000 to more than $3 million in 2006–thanks to some two dozen donors. Who are they? What is their agenda? Why did the IRS redact their names?

CAIR has recently been named as an “unindicted co-conspirator” by a federal investigators. Shouldn’t the tax-exempt status of this “civil rights group” be suspended until it is, ahem, cleared?

Finally, a lot of Americans owe their Muslim neighbors an apology. They had the good sense to leave CAIR after the 9-11 attacks, when the group’s agenda became clear. Where are the nation’s Muslims who want peace, tolerance and strong stand against terrorism? Well, 27,000 of them just voted with their wallets.

This analysis, by Rasmussen, is the most penetrating and persuasive. Read the whole thing as they say on the internet.

Here’s an interesting point:

From the beginning, the Senate approached the issue with top priority of addressing the legal status of the illegal aliens. They addressed concerns about guest-worker programs and questions about whether family or skill level should be more important when determining who could enter the country.

With all the polling data in the world today, how could they have failed to see this coming?

Polling data shows that most Americans who favor a tough border-enforcement stance also want to welcome more immigrants legally. We are a nation of laws as well as immigrants.