An SS Auschwitz Scrapbook Emerges

Nazi officers walk toward the dedication of the new SS hospital in Auschwitz.

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From left to right: Richard Baer (Commandant of Auschwitz), Dr. Josef Mengele and Rudolf Hoess (the former Auschwitz Commandant)

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From left to right: Josef Kramer, Dr. Josef Mengele (with his arms folded), Richard Baer, Karl Hocker and unidentified.

The New York Times: In the Shadow of Horror, SS Guardians Frolic:

...they realized they had a scrapbook of sorts of the lives of Auschwitz’s senior SS officers that was maintained by Karl Höcker, the adjutant to the camp commandant. Rather than showing the men performing their death camp duties, the photos depicted, among other things, a horde of SS men singing cheerily to the accompaniment of an accordionist, Höcker lighting the camp’s Christmas tree, a cadre of young SS women frolicking and officers relaxing, some with tunics shed, for a smoking break.

In all there are 116 pictures, beginning with a photo from June 21, 1944, of Höcker and the commandant of the camp, Richard Baer, both in full SS regalia. The album also contains eight photos of Josef Mengele, the camp doctor notorious for participating in the selections of arriving prisoners and bizarre and cruel medical experiments. These are the first authenticated pictures of Mengele at Auschwitz, officials at the Holocaust museum said.

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It's perverse, but ultimately unsurprising to see these SS Officers unabashedly joking amidst the atrocities they directed.

Nazis and Muslims Teamed Up To Fight Jews

Little known history, courtesy Bryan of Hot Air - Video: The Grand Mufti, the Nazis and modern Islamism

"It all sounds like a grand conspiracy theory, but it’s not: The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem before and during the WWII years, Haj Amin El Husseini, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood (founded 1928) aligned with the German Nazis in 1937 and recruited Muslim SS units in Bosnia during the war.

"...There are a few takeaway points from all this. First, the jihad didn’t start in 2001 or 1993 or 1983 or even 1979. It goes back quite a bit farther, and isn’t a response to US policies. Second, the jihadis work with secular allies when it suits them. The grand mufti worked hand in glove with Hitler; they would work with anyone else who could provide whatever they believe they need to achieve their goals. Third, the Muslim Brotherhood isn’t dormant or dead — it boast about 20% of Egypt’s parliament, for one thing — and it and its various offshoots are still working toward the goal of global Muslim domination."

Watch the video here.

Newfound French Belligerence Toward Iran

Just as Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov said today:

“We are convinced that no modern problem has a military solution, and that applies to the Iranian nuclear programme as well”

...Iran threatens missile attacks on US targets:

Iran threatened to fire long-range missiles at American targets in the Middle East yesterday as the war of words between Teheran and the West continued to escalate.

A senior commander of the Revolutionary Guard, the largest component of the Islamic republic's armed forces, chose this moment to outline the capability of his country's ballistic missiles.

The Shahab-3 rocket has a range of 1,250 miles, allowing it to strike an array of Western targets across the Middle East.

"Today the Americans are around our country but this does not mean that they are encircling us. They are encircled themselves and are within our range," said Gen Mohammed Hassan Koussechi.

Lavrov's hopelessly idealistic comments were in response to France's increasingly stern rhetoric toward Iran. Captain Ed calls it The New French Realism:

"The change of government in Paris has given French diplomacy a new and welcome dose of realism. Bernard Kouchner has made it clear that Gallic patience has come to an end where Iran is concerned. If Iran continues in its nuclear intransigence, Kouchner announced, the world must prepare for war

"...In stark contrast to the role played by the Chirac government, Nicolas Sarkozy has made it plain that he wants to work with the US on security concerns in the Middle East. Iran used to be a major client for French industry, just as Iraq once was under Saddam Hussein. France therefore has had influence in Teheran that neither the British nor the US have had, but their attempts to use it to curtail the Iranian nuclear quest came to naught.

"Their sudden support for keeping military options open may get some attention from the mullahcracy."

Iran's state media has even taken the time to criticize the French as well. You know Sarkozy must be doing something right. France's rhetoric reminds me of a scene from Braveheart:

Stephen: Fine speech. Now what do we do?
William Wallace: Just be yourselves.
Hamish: Where are you going?
William Wallace: I'm going to pick a fight.
Hamish: Hope we didn't get dressed up for nothing.

Now what will the French do? Hold true to their word and stand by America.

Terrorists of Different Stripes, Thirty Years Apart

But what do they have in common? Anti-Americanism.

Bret Stephens:

Thirty years ago this month, Germany's Red Army Faction--better known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang--kidnapped Hanns-Martin Schleyer, president of the German employers' association, and murdered his driver and three bodyguards. Six weeks later, on Oct. 18, 1977, the RAF murdered Schleyer, too, after the West German government refused to give in to RAF demands for the release of its imprisoned leaders. That same day, three of those leaders--Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe--committed suicide. Schleyer's body was found the next day in the trunk of a car, his mouth stuffed with pine needles. An RAF communiqué announced that "we have ended Hanns-Martin Schleyer's pitiful and corrupt existence. . . . His death is meaningless for our pain and our rage."

Thirty years later

Islamism is a political doctrine no less than it is a religious one, and in its critique of Western society it is indistinguishable from the rhetoric of radical chic. "The capitalist system seeks to turn the entire world into a fiefdom of the major corporations under the label of 'globalization,' " says bin Laden in his latest sermon. He also manages to cite Noam Chomsky on the subject of "the manufacturing of public opinion," while scolding the Democrats for not putting a stop to the war in Iraq and the Bush administration for "not observing the Kyoto accord." Where have we heard this before?

Anti-Americanism is the common thread. The German terror plot of 2007 had as its targets the U.S. Air Force base at Ramstein and the Frankfurt airport, which thousands of Americans pass through on their way home. For its part, Baader-Meinhof detonated car bombs at U.S. military bases in 1972, 1977, 1981 and 1985. In the last of these attacks, RAF cadres Birgit Hogefeld and Eva Haule lured American GI Edward Pimental from a bar, murdered him, and used his ID to park a car bomb at the Rhein-Main air base. The bomb killed American airman Frank Scarton and civilian contractor Becky Bristol and injured 20 others.

Different killers, but the same sadistic, anti-American justification.

Are Russian Pilots That Bad?

...or is there something more sinister behind this?

UK jets shadow Russian bombers

The UK's Royal Air Force has launched fighter jets to intercept eight Russian military planes flying in airspace patrolled by Nato, UK officials say.

Four RAF F3 Tornado aircraft were scrambled in response to the Russian action, the UK's defence ministry said.

The Russian planes - long-range bombers - had earlier been followed by Norwegian F16 jets.

Not the only incident involving Russian Bombers. Maybe they're still upset over the whole Litvinenko thing.

A Bloodless Attack

China stealthily invaded the German government's computer systems last month, and seems to have struck again:

the People's Liberation Army, or PLA, assaulted part of the Pentagon's system used by policy advisers to the defence secretary, Robert Gates, is the latest and potentially most serious breach and set alarm bells ringing across the US military.

There are also reports of Chinese hackers "attacking the computer networks of British government departments."

What is behind this recent flurry of Chinese Internet warfare? Does the People's Republic have a rogue hacker on their hands, or is this a series of well-timed cyber-raids to spook the West?

Regardless, this threat has been overlooked and under reported for some time, and will probably remain so until something seriously wrong goes down.

On The Defense When Terror Cells Are Busted

How has the liberal blogosphere come to terms with a huge victory when the biggest planned terror attack on German soil is thwarted? By alleging that the US military has had no "big victories" in the war on terror...

Unsurprising skepticism from The CarpetBagger Report:

Now, after having been misled on a variety of instances, it’s only natural to be at least a little skeptical about some of the details, such as whether the planned attacks were really in “advanced stages.” We’ve heard that before about various disrupted plots, only to learn later that the terrorist plans were not as far along as we’d been led to believe.

CB also quotes Will Bunch, who alleges that:

Most of the big victories in “the war on terror” have been racked up by cops, not by soldiers.

Way to take a shot against the military. I suppose they are right about that if they are speaking only of foiled domestic terror plots. The military does not operate within our borders, so how could the Army or Marines claim victory against homegrown terror? Or don't they teach that in liberal 101?

Military victories, military victories... hmm. Perhaps their memories do not serve them well. I suppose capturing Khalid Sheik Mohammed (the architect of 9/11), killing Zarqawi, capturing Saddam Hussein (Who funded Palestinian terrorists, to say the least), Killing Hussein's sons (who terrorized their people), Killing Muharib Abdul-Latif al-Jubouri, and killing and capturing thousands of terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan on a monthly basis do not county as "big victories?"

But wait a minute, don't many liberals claim there is no legitimate war on terror?

And hasn't CBR itself claimed that conservatives are "hyping" the terror threat? And then claimed Bush wasn't doing enough on the war on terror?

By that rationale, CBR is joining in the hype by reporting today's huge success by Germany authorities against fundamentalist Islamists determined to kill Americans.

The Beslan Tragedy - Two Years Ago Today

Gateway Pundit has an excellent post and video reminding us about one of the more depraved terrorist attacks perpetrated by Islamic radicals: 3 Years Ago Today... Terrorists Seize Beslan School

A Russian Conspiracy - Theory

Shocking.

Is Putin the capricious autocrat we think he is, or the victim of a concerted effort by his political opponents to bring him down?

It is turning out those in exile and desperate to get back into power are the ones who would use murder as a propaganda tool. And if this is the case, then why would they not use nuclear material smuggled through London to disrupt Russia and begin the take over of Russia one such Oligarch, Boris Berezovsky, has openly called for.

And:

What if these people were right, that it was the Oligarch’s trying to stain Putin so they could garner support for a coup? Putin has what he needs and can get what he wants. He is not facing election. He has no motive outside the conspiracy fantasies of people with no proof. On the flip side, we have the words of these Oligarchs stating their plans. And we know, as the article points out, they are the ones who truly gained from the publicity surrounding these deaths. Publicity they paid PR firms to help promote.

So is Putin the victim? He's not so innocent, and not so shy about using heavy-handed tactics, says American Thinker:

Last Friday, another act of war took place in the skies over the Caucasus, when a Russian aircraft violated the Republic of Georgia's airspace and was fired on by the country's air defense forces. Prior to this latest incident, Russia violated Georgian airspace no fewer than three times within as many weeks, including one instance of a deliberate missile attack against a Georgian-NATO radar site.

H/T PJM

Chinese Cyber Warfare

These invisible, stealth attacks often go unreported. It is inevitable that a future catastrophe will be predicated on the failure of computer-based military/government/defense systems whose collapse will be due to premeditated attack via overseas hackers.

China Invades Germany and Gets Caught

August 28, 2007: Chinese Cyber War operatives have, over the last three months, hacked into the computer networks of several German government ministries (Foreign, Economics and Research), as well as the office of the Chancellor ( Angela Merkel, the head of the government). Some 160 gigabytes of data was moved to computers in northern China. This revelation was leaked to the media while the Chancellor was in China, to discuss trade matters, and demand that China do more to stop the theft of German intellectual property.

The Chinese attack was supposed to be done so that it would not be detected. But it was, and as much as 200 additional gigabytes of data did not make its way to China. Naturally, the Chinese deny everything, but the Germans are apparently still building their case that this was a Chinese government sponsored operation. The first major hack of government computer networks took place back in the 1980s, when a gang of West German hackers, hired by the Soviet secret police (KGB) were caught inside U.S. Department of Defense networks, stealing classified data.

Keep your eyes and ears open, and your computer security closed tight.

H/T Dawn Patrol.

Did Sarko say...?

China Daily: Sarkozy calls for troop exit from Iraq

That was the headline.

What he said:

Praising his predecessor, he reiterated, “France was — thanks to Jacques Chirac — is and remains hostile” to the American-led war in Iraq. “History proved France right,” he added.

Calling for a concrete deadline for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, he described it as “a nation that is falling apart in a merciless civil war,” where the Sunni-Shiite divide could ignite conflict throughout the Middle East and where terrorists are setting up permanent bases to attack targets around the world.

Sarkozy is no fan of the U.S. war in Iraq, but he is not arguing for any sort of immediate U.S. withdrawal from the country.

"A nuclear-armed Iran is for me unacceptable"

The gauntlet has been thrown... by the French.

PARIS, Aug. 27 — In his first major foreign policy speech as president of France,Nicolas Sarkozy calling the Iranian nuclear crisis “the most serious weighing on the international order today” and said that Iran could be attacked militarily if it did not live up to its international obligations to curb its nuclear program.

“A nuclear-armed Iran is for me unacceptable,” Mr. Sarkozy said in a speech to France’s ambassadorial corps, stressing the urgency of finding a negotiated solution. “This approach is the only one that would prevent a catastrophic alternative: the Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran.”

He's not your daddy's French President.

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P.S. - Iran's Revolutionary Guard. Billions of reasons why they're not simply a fighting force, and why hitting them in the pocket will hit Iran in the pocket.

Greece In Flames

Smoke is seen rising as forest fires sweep through Greece in this handout satellite photo from NASA released on August 26, 2007. Since Friday, towering walls of flame have cut a swathe of destruction through the Peloponnese and swept across other regions, prompting Greece to declare a nationwide state of emergency on Saturday. The regions in red indicate the different locations of the fire.

An elderly woman stands amongst burnt cars in the village of Artemida in Peloponnese peninsula, southwest of Athens August 25, 2007. The worst forest fires to hit Greece in decades have killed 41 people and more are feared dead, authorities said on Saturday.

Pictures from Reuters.

Minutes Of Your Life

...these people will never get back. Hundreds pose naked on shrinking Swiss glacier

Can you say... retarded PR stunt?

H/T Gateway Pundit

Russian Diplomacy

...as my father called it.

NATO jets tail Russian aircraft for second time in a week

RAF MILDENHALL, England — For the second time in less than a week, NATO air forces scrambled fighter jets on Friday in response to Russian aircraft straying toward — and allegedly into — British airspace.

Officials from Norway and Britain confirmed Friday they dispatched fighter jets four days after a contingent of Norwegian F-16s and British Tornados shadowed a set of Russian aircraft traveling toward British airspace.

The Russians are cranky over their expelled "diplomats" (read: Attaches, spies) because of the egregious poisoning death of Alexander Litvinenko.

The Russian reaction is infantile and futile.

Arafat: Positive for AIDS

Little Green Footballs has news of...

"Ahmad Jibril, Secretary-General of the PFLP General Command, on Hizballah’s Al-Manar TV, publicly admitting the truth about Yasser Arafat’s death for the first time."

The proof:

“To be honest, the French gave us the medical report, that stated that the cause of Abu Ammar’s death was AIDS.”

'Its restive Muslim minorities seem unappeasable'

Europe in Denial: Lessons Learned in Spain

Spain was under Islamic rule for 800 years, and many Muslims blame Spaniards for the loss of Al-Ándalus. Spanish politician and terrorism expert Gustavo de Arístegui has documented how there is already a policy underway to reconquer land and monuments that were once under the domain of Islam. In an interview with me last year, Arístegui said, “Spanish society today is not willing or ready to accept the threat we face.”

Aaron Hanscom in Pajamas Media.

Purple Hearts In Excess

This post by Instapundit blew me away:

SOME PERSPECTIVE: I was reading some stuff on the plans for invading Japan at the end of World War II when I ran across this:

Nearly 500,000 Purple Heart medals were manufactured in anticipation of the casualties resulting from the invasion of Japan. To the present date, all the American military casualties of the sixty years following the end of World War II — including the Korean and Vietnam Wars — have not exceeded that number. In 2003, there were still 120,000 of these Purple Heart medals in stock. There are so many in surplus that combat units in Iraq and Afghanistan are able to keep Purple Hearts on-hand for immediate award to wounded soldiers on the field.

And at current rates we'll still be using them for decades. My grandfather fought all across Europe, then got shipped to the Pacific in preparation for invading Japan. He was extremely happy that the war ended without that being necessary.

As devastating the losses we suffered during World War II, how much worse it could have been.

Update: The plot thickens - Wikipedia:

Redeployment

See also: Orders of battle for Downfall

Olympic was to be mounted with resources already present in the Pacific, including the British Pacific Fleet, a Commonwealth formation that included at least a dozen aircraft carriers and several battleships. The Australian First Tactical Air Force took part in the Philippines campaign (1944-45)

These would likely have augmented U.S. close air support units over Japan. The only major re-deployment for Olympic was Tiger Force, a Commonwealth long range heavy bomber unit, made up of more than 20 squadrons, scheduled to betransferred from RAF Bomber Command in Europe to airbases on Okinawa.

If reinforcements had been needed for Olympic, they could have been provided from forces being assembled for Coronet, which would have needed the redeployment of substantial Allied forces from Europe, South Asia, Australasia, and elsewhere. These would have included the U.S. First Army (15 divisions) and the Eighth Air Force, which were in Europe. The redeployment was complicated by the simultaneous partial demobilization of the U.S. Army, which drastically reduced the divisions' combat effectiveness, by stripping them of their most experienced officers and men.

My grandfather belonged to the 9th Division of the U.S. First Army. After fighting across North Africa, the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, it is very likely his feet would have landed on the shores of mainland Japan in what undoubtedly would have been one of the bloodiest battles in American history.

An Effigy For An Effigy

It seems Muslims are getting a bit of a taste of their own medicine. Gateway Pundit noted the audacious move by the Danes, who recently burned a picture of Mohammed in effigy.

I don't get the whole "burning things in effigy," for whatever reason. It seems as much an act of self-promotion and anarchy as flag-burning... not that it should be outlawed.

After all, if we could only settle all disputes in such a manner. Rather than an eye for an eye, our cultures could trade an effigy for an effigy.

The European Media Is Biased?!

You don't say!

Gateway Pundit has the video: The first step to recovery is admitting there is a problem...

"Polls clearly show that Europeans have turned against America in increasing numbers. You can blame Iraq, or George Bush, but it's also true that Europeans have been fed a steady diet of media distortions about America for years... and if you repeat a distortion long enough, it can become a reality."