My Brother-in-Law, who is a good guy, has this bar. He is very proud of it. It is one of those numbers with the dark wood. A very masculine bar. Except for one glaring feature. A very ornate crystal bowl, into which are put candies, peanuts, or pretzels. The bowl is out of place, and the guy knows it.

So, this year, for his birthday, I purchased him a Bullie Sack. Now I would provide a link, but it seems that this item is out of stock everywhere. Suffice it too say that it is a dried bull scrotum that has been placed between two sticks and is meant to serve as a bowl. I mean the guy has everything, and I thought it would be a great conversation piece. Imagine; person grabbing peanut out of bowl; "what an intersting bowl"; Yeah, you know what that is? etc.

So the "bowl" is delivered for his birthday, and he thinks it's pretty cool. But my sister is having none of it. She confiscates under the pretense that it smells. So the joke in the family is that my sister has my brother-in-law's scrotum and won't give it back. As you can imagine, there is significant mileage in this joke.

What's my point?

Well, it appears that the world has lost its scrotum, and someone better give it back, or we are all going to be up to our eyeballs in shit.

While the Japanese Government is holding firm, it seems that many Japanese citizens are not. This is the same country that was ready to hold of the American Military Machine utilizing every man, woman and child holding a pitchfork. Now, they are having a conniption over three hostages. This is how terrorists win. I don't know if this is the majority of Japanese citizens, but if it is, then there is a problem.

South Korea has banned it's citizens from traveling, although it seems to be holding firm on the troop deployment.

The Polish Government is firm, but the Polish People are beginning to go sideways.

We know what happened to Spain.

Same story with the Australian government

And Blair cannot survive an election with this.
In the United States, public support stays strong.

The problem is that if the rest of the world rolls over, it is going to create huge problems for us. The rest of the world is going to suffer collateral damage, which will only get worse as these countries demonstrate that they are willing to prostrate themselves at every demand. While we do not neccesarily need the troop support, we do need the intelligence, and we do need political support. The feeling that we are alone will weigh upon us. I worry that the road is going to get much tougher now.

A couple of weeks ago, in the aftermath of the Yassin hit in Israel and the Spanish bombs, I posted that I thought that something was brewing. I wrote:

Just a gut feel from the way things are going, but I think something is about to change, or has just changed, in the war on terror. Perhaps the attack in Spain is yet another major miscalculation of cause and effect, maybe US polling data is affecting things, or maybe it is just coincidence. But I think that Michael Ledeen is about to get his "Faster, please."

Well, I still have that feeling. And it is stronger. Yes, the increased level of violence in Iraq is a source, as well as meeting some people who are working on the war that won't be seen on TV. Not only are we seeing increased fighting in Iraq - fighting that we will win - but the evidence is unmistakable that Iran is actively opposing us there. And Syria probably is, too.

I think the war on terror is coming to a head, and right in the middle of political campaign season. I don't think that is because we chose it to happen, now, but it is happening now. There is no substitute for victory.

Item 1: Levin calls for U.N. role in Iraq:

Faced with mounting violence in Iraq, the United States should go to the United Nations and ask, "What will it take?" to get the U.N. involved there, U.S. Sen. Carl Levin said Tuesday.

Item 2: Levin says U.S. should be flexible about June 30 deadline for handover of power in Iraq

DETROIT (AP) -- The United States should be flexible about the June 30 deadline for transferring power in Iraq, U.S. Sen. Carl Levin said Monday.

....

"The June 30 date is an arbitrary one, perhaps dictated more by U.S. domestic politics than the situation within Iraq," the senator from Michigan said during an early afternoon address before the Detroit Economic Club.

So, Senator Levin says that we need to find out what the UN wants so they can take over, and also abandon the June 30 turnover date because it is arbitrary and based on domestic political considerations. (Hmm, Kerry says that, too. Survey says...Talking Points!). But what did the UN want? Seems to me that what they wanted was for the US to turn over sovereignty to Iraq back in October. (Here's a great excerpt from that link:

But that pathway was challenged earlier Monday by Democratic senator and 2004 presidential contender John Kerry, who unveiled his own plan for Iraq that, in many respects, is closer to the French proposal.

Kerry called for a transfer of responsibility over Iraq's political future to the United Nations and a reasonable calender for a rapid handover of power to Iraqi authorities.

"As with the transition in Afghanistan," the senator said, "we cannot wait for perfection or elections or a constitution."

Just days after trying to push that ludicrous idea, the UN pulled out in the face of one attack. In fact, the UN is afraid to take over Iraq.

So the folks who are now saying that we are trying to turn over Iraq sovereignty too soon, were complaining just six months ago that we were waiting too long.

Short memories indeed. Are they that stupid or do they think we are that stupid. I mean, don't they think we can check? Haven't they ever Googled themselves?

People seem exercised about Ted Kennedy saying that Iraq is Bush's Vietnam. Short memories, folks. Used to be everyone was comparing it to Vietnam, and then they finally shut up. Kennedy is just late to the party.

Interestingly, I was going to write a post that noone was comparing it to Vietnam anymore, even with the recent violence, but then Kennedy had to go and screw that up.

And once again the Democrats reveal the shallowness of their strategy. As things started looking better in Iraq, they backed away from the anti-war rhetoric and its main embodiment, Howard Dean. Instead, they went for Kerry who decided, well, I'll let that Iraq thing alone and go after the economy. Now things are looking sunny on that side of the street, and Kerry is out peddling his class warfare talk while the real warfare looks to be growing.

I expect that this Kennedy thing will swing Kerry back onto the anti-war track - and things will get better there, leaving him high and dry once again.

Mike of FecesFlingingMonkey.com emailed me a pointer to a good analysis of our strengths in the Fallujah situation over at Belmont Club.

For those waiting to see some payback for Fallujah, it is on.

I hope that we see some success out of this. But there are two different issues in the event - the gunmen who killed the contractors, and then the crowd. Our focus should be the gunmen, who may or may not be Fallujans, and may not even be Iraqis. We should work with Iraqi security forces on the crowd issue, because that is truly an Iraqi problem.

Miami again. Was supposed to be done last week, but we didn't get finished up, so a couple more days in Miami. A roommate from school who I haven't seen since his wedding 15 years ago is coming to visit this week with his family. Easter Sunday, a friend has an overnight layover at BWI on his way back to Baghdad, so I am picking him up and having him over. Then the in-laws are visiting, and a trip to a B&B in Charlottesville. And then off to Hawaii for a week, for work.

Could be worse. Our work is staying pretty busy, and I was talking to a friend who is an airline pilot last night, and he says things are definitely picking up in his business. And the airport this morning is mobbed.

I think that the new on the economic front keeps looking better, even if the Iraq is looking pretty tough right now. But overall, the war on terror seems to be working. Spain, a nation that voted to appease terrorists, sees more terror. And Israel, a nation that is taking it on head on, is seeing a decrease. Whoda thunk it?