Links and Minifeatures 10 11 Wednesday

Top Qaeda leader urges fighters to hit White House

A man believed to be a top al Qaeda militant who escaped from a U.S. jail near Kabul was shown in a new videotape broadcast on Tuesday exhorting followers in Afghanistan to fight on until they attack the White House.



"Allah will not be pleased until we reach the rooftop of the White House," Abu Yahya al-Libi was shown telling fighters in the tape aired by the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television.

There is a war on. We don't try those who are merely enemy soldiers, as they have done nothing morally wrong. But neither can we afford to let them go, as this escapee illustrates.





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Shortest easiest manhunt in the history of the world: Putin vows to hunt down Russian reporter's killers



All he has to do is look in a mirror.



I don't think he actually pulled the trigger. But given his governing tendencies, I'll bet money he was responsible, in at least the "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest" sense.



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Q and O covers admirably the history of what happened with North Korea and nuclear weapons.



Drudge (among many others, but this got sent to me first) notes a video that Republican strategists are refusing to use, thus differentiating themselves from Democrats. It's over the top. It's not fair or balanced, and it distorts things way beyond shape (although there is a lot of truth to the basic story). You should not use it for information. But it is funny!



What a coup! Captain's Quarters has a guest post from Senator John McCain and the Straight Talk Express on the issue of nuclear Korea.



Captain's Quarters himself has more of the real story, which is more than damaging enough to the Dems.



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The Ultimate Smackdown of multiculturalism from the Financial Times, with spin the take the edge off.

Prof Putnam said: "What we shouldn't do is to say that they [immigrants] should be more like us. We should construct a new us."

A new us that includes elements from them. I've got no problems with Islamics celebrating Ramadan or Mexicans celebrating the 16th of September. An American of Scottish, Nigerian, or Vietnamese extraction is an American, whether or not they toss the caber, wear tribal costume, or eat that disgusting fish sauce. Someone who wants to see Mexico retake the southwest or Islam conquer the United States is not.



If regarding ourselves as somehow different from our neighbors unwinds the fabric of society, perhaps we should stop accentuating those trivial differences that don't matter, and start focusing on what should be the big similarities?



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Captain's Quarters has the story on Harry Reid's corruption.