Scrapbook
Scrapbook "A Hell of a Threat Out There" THE SCRAPBOOK had an opportunity to speak with a Bush administration bigshot last Friday about the thwarted terror plot. We would love to tell you who it...
...It is reported that the band's move has been made in response to a £170,000 cap on the tax-free incomes introduced in the last Irish budget...
...This SEAL left behind his parents and young wife, who says they were planning a family...
...Another SEAL was wounded in the battle that proved to be one of the largest in Iraq since the beginning of the insurgency...
...It's like John Kerry...
...There are two points I'd make...
...The idea that the jihadists would all be peaceful, warm, lovable, Godfearing people if it weren't for U.S...
...Fumento concludes: "God bless our troops in Iraq...
...2006-08-10)—The British Parliament, in a rapid response to a terror plot foiled by Scotland Yard yesterday, announced formation of a study panel today to determine why some Muslims hate airplanes...
...He said they were begging for the military to release them from this tyranny and were appalled at the things that were going on,' his mother Debbie Lee told a reporter...
...But this is not the first time that we've seen a number of people, citizens of a European country, some of them presumably second generation— we don't know everything about their backgrounds at this point—plan this kind of attack...
...As the Daily Telegraph reported last week: The rock band U2 came under criticism yesterday after reports that it has moved a portion of its multi-million-pound business empire out of Ireland for tax reasons...
...U2 Can Avoid Taxes Though THE SCRAPBOOK takes a dim view of bleeding-heart celebrities, we've occasionally had a weakness for U2 singer Bono, whose campaign for debt relief and foreign aid hasn't stopped him from befriending the likes of Jesse Helms and George W. Bush...
...policies...
...Satire Alert From our friend Scott Ott, proprietor of the inimitable scrappleface.com: UK PANEL ASKS: WHY DO THEY HATE AIRPLANES...
...The expert panel will examine various theories about why airplanes engender such hatred among devoted followers of a peaceful religion...
...Early reports indicate 21 men have been taken into custody in connection with a plan to take down an unknown number of U.S.-bound passenger jets originating in Great Britain...
...During the operation, one element member was wounded by enemy fire...
...SAO: "Not without getting into classified areas...
...policies strikes me as not a valid idea...
...I share Bono's desire to see more resources devoted to Ireland Aid, but it is more difficult to make a case for it if everyone is not willing to be part of the social contract that stipulates that everybody should pay their fair share in what is a low-tax country...
...U2's collective fortune is estimated at roughly $800 million...
...We weren't in Iraq when they hit us on 9/11...
...God bless the SEALs...
...The speed...
...Aviation Ordnanceman 2nd Class (SEAL) Marc Alan Lee has died a true hero's death, laying down his life for his fellow men...
...He also truly cared more about the people of Ramadi...
...According to an embedded reporter with the Stars and Stripes newspaper," Michael writes on his blog at fumento...
...He is the first SEAL killed in Iraq...
...Can you discuss what post-9/11 Bush administration policies played a role in thwarting these attacks...
...Is it the horrendous noise...
...But it turns out the man who routinely badgers Western taxpayers to spend more helping impoverished Africans isn't beyond doing a little canny tax planning himself...
...SAO: "I think it's a huge mistake for Americans to think that somehow we are responsible—that the actions of the jihadists are justified by U.S...
...The condensation trails...
...said one unnamed source close to the panel, listing some of the areas of inquiry the experts plan to pursue...
...Democrats] do not have the understanding or the commitment to take on these forces...
...SCRAPBOOK: Democrats yesterday pointed to this plot as evidence that jihadists don't like our policies in Iraq...
...policy...
...We're hardly opposed to rock stars' seeking out the most hospitable tax climate for their riches...
...Look at the series of attacks...
...SCRAPBOOK: Some have described this as the most sophisticated plot since 9/11...
...com, "an enemy sniper shot and wounded one of Lee's SEAL comrades at the start of a firefight that lasted over an hour...
...He, his teammates, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and Abrams tanks engaged enemy positions with suppressive fire from an adjacent building to the north...
...A SEAL Remembered In his article "The New Band of Brothers" (June 19, 2006), Michael Fumento wrote of the courage and professionalism of 19 Navy SEALs in Ramadi whom he photographed and filmed during a fire-fight while he was embedded there...
...activating plans for a trial run, discussion of dates, homing in on airlines—American airlines...
...Lee was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, one of the highest awards in the military, along with a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart...
...What concerned us is that it began to look more and more like they were beginning to implement it...
...His brave actions in the line of fire saved the lives of many of his teammates.' " Fumento adds: "After watching them in action from a rooftop I shared with them, I wrote of Lee and his comrades, 'Those SEALs fight like machines.' But they're not, of course...
...Now there are 18," Fumento writes...
...SCRAPBOOK: Bush administration officials often say that it's not an accident that we haven't been hit since 9/11...
...Petty Officer Lee and his SEAL element maneuvered to assault an unidentified enemy position...
...We would love to tell you who it was, The Scrapbook being a full-disclosure kind of guy, but our interviewee insisted on being called merely a Senior Administration Official (SAO...
...Based in Dublin, U2 have long benefited from the artists' tax exemption introduced by Charles Haughey, the late prime minister...
...Do you agree...
...Joan Burton, Irish Labour's finance spokesman, said: "Having listened to Bono on the necessity for the Irish Government to give more money to Ireland Aid, of which I approve, I am surprised that U2 are not prepared to contribute to the Exchequer on a fair basis along with the bulk of Irish taxpayers...
...Why do you blow up a nightclub in Bali or hit a Jewish organization in Tunis or go after a hotel in Mombasa...
...To protect the lives of his teammates, he fearlessly exposed himself to direct enemy fire by engaging the enemy with his machine gun and was mortally wounded in the engagement...
...Burton has a point: Ireland ranked third in the 2006 Index of Economic Freedom, put together by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, behind only Hong Kong and Singapore and ahead of such famous tax havens as Luxembourg and Iceland...
...It's because we've been very aggressive in going after terrorists...
...SAO: "I think that's a fair assessment...
...This should be a reminder to everybody that there's still a hell of a threat out there...
...It's also a cause for some satisfaction that we broke it up...
...The band . . . has reportedly transferred some of its publishing company to Holland...
...It's not an accident that we haven't been hit...
...The element completed the casualty evacuation, regrouped, and returned onto the battlefield to continue the fight,' the citation reads...
...Because if it's any of those things, we can get to work on engineering changes to make airplanes more tolerable to our Muslim brothers...
...The law-enforcement approach doesn't work...
...But whatever happened to Irish pride...
...The other thing that stands out in my mind—everybody still focuses on the Middle East as the seedbed where this stuff germinates...
...It isn't just U.S...
...God bless the men fighting to liberate Ramadi...
...There are parts of Europe that are a breeding ground for this kind of activity...
...This sort of blame-America crowd isn't helpful...
Vol. 11 • August 2006 • No. 46
