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THIS COULD BE IT --Today's Mack Attack

World War I began with an assassination, World War II with an unmitigated attack from the air. There is something frighteningly apropos about the fact that WWIII might just have been launched...with a cartoon.
There is also something surreal yet satisfyingly bizarre about the fact that Denmark, that pip-squeak European blip known for hardcore porn, hardwood furiture and delectable pastry, may possibly go down in history as the entity that bravely stood up for freedom of the press, and more broadly, freedom from religious persecution.
That's really what's at stake here. Western ideology (Freedom of expression and tolerating all the gratuitous, tasteless garbage that comes as an essential component of that freedom) versus intolerant Middle-Eastern theocratic totalitarianism.
This is heady stuff that has, with these latest events, passed the point of mere apology from either side. Neither of these value groups is likely to back down and neither is likely to compromise values so entrenched in their respective cultures. That being the case, an all-out culture-cum-holy war looms as a distinct possibility.
There's no denying that Muslim protests are escalating toward military intervention. NATO peacekeepers (read: soldiers) have already exchanged fire with protestors in Afghanistan (see entire article below). In addition, the Bush administration has contacted its drilling buddies in Saudi Arabia and asked them to intervene before things really get out of hand (also below). Meanwhile, in Bibb County, Alabama three more Christian churches have mysteriously been torched, making nine in total since Muslim protesting began on the same day the original six churches caught fire (again, below).
To help escalate matters toward an all-out holy war, ol' Dubya himself went and accomplished something that Saddam Hussein tried and tried for years but never could accomplish...band all Arab nations against the US.
Dubya went and did what every president since Harry S. Truman purposely went out of their way to avoid like the plague...he officially and formally stated for the record... that if attacked, THE UNITED STATES WILL DEFEND ISRAEL MILITARILY.
No Arab country will fight alongside Israel, so to paraphrase one of Dubya's most famous lines, "Not one of them will be for us, so they're all against us" (See full story below).
Where this thing is headed is uncertain, but with Iran desperate to keep out United Nations inspectors and surely close to implementing long-range nuclear capabilities, and the match lit in the Middle East, something is definitely going to explode.
Hopefully, it will only be the price of oil ($130 per barrel by some estimates if Iran turns off the American spigot) but it could possibly, ultimately, be the price of freedom...military action in defense of united outside aggression.


MONTGOMERY, Ala. (Feb. 7) Fires damaged three more rural Baptist churches in Alabama following rash of suspected arsons that burned six churches south of Birmingham last week, a state official said Tuesday.
Ragan Ingram, a spokesman for the state insurance agency that oversees fire investigations, said the fires reported Tuesday were at Dancy First Baptist Church near Aliceville, Spring Valley Baptist Church near Emelle, and Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church near Boligee.
He said the extent of damage was not immediately known and it wasn't immediately clear when the three churches burned. State and federal fire investigators were sent to the scenes, he said.
"Obviously we're going to investigate these as suspected arsons," Ingram said.
Early Friday, three rural Baptist churches were destroyed and two others were damaged in rural Bibb County, about 25 miles south of Birmingham.
The three fires that were reported Tuesday were in three sparsely populated counties in west Alabama near the Mississippi line.

KABUL, Afghanistan (Feb.7) NATO peacekeepers exchanged fire with protesters who attacked their base Tuesday in a second straight day of deadly demonstrations in Afghanistan over the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, officials said. Three demonstrators were killed and dozens wounded.
In neighboring Pakistan, 5,000 people chanting "Hang the man who insulted the prophet" burned effigies of one cartoonist and Denmark's prime minister. Citizens from Denmark, where the images were first published, were advised to leave Indonesia, the world's most populous Islamic nation, because of safety fears.
A prominent Iranian newspaper said it was going to hold a competition for cartoons on the Holocaust in reaction to European newspapers publishing the prophet drawings, and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the publication of the cartoons was an Israeli conspiracy motivated by anger over the victory of the militant Hamas group in the Palestinian elections last month.
The European Union, in turn, warned Iran that attempts to boycott Danish goods or cancel trade contracts with European countries would lead to a further deterioration in relations.
The drawings, including one depicting the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb have touched a raw nerve in part because Islam is interpreted to forbid any illustrations of the Prophet Muhammad for fear they could lead to idolatry.
The most violent demonstrations were in Afghanistan, where thousands of rioters clashed with police and NATO peacekeepers across the country.
About 250 protesters armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked the NATO base in the northwestern town of Maymana, burning an armored vehicle, a U.N. car and guard posts, said a doctor at Maymana Hospital.
Some in the crowd fired light weapons and threw stones and hand grenades, and the Norwegian troops responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and warning shots, said Sverre Diesen, commander of Norwegian forces.
Three protesters were shot to death and 25 others were wounded, while some 50 others were hurt by tear gas the peacekeepers used to disperse the demonstrators, said Sayed Aslam Ziaratia, the provincial deputy police chief.
It wasn't clear who killed the protesters.
Two Norwegian and two Finnish soldiers were slightly hurt, Diesen told reporters in Oslo.
The United Nations pulled its staff out of Maymana, near Afghanistan's border with Turkmenistan, and NATO peacekeepers rushed reinforcements to the remote town.
In the capital, Kabul, police used batons to beat stone-throwing protesters outside the Danish diplomatic mission office and near the offices of the World Bank. An Associated Press reporter saw police arrest several people, many of them injured.
More than 3,000 protesters threw stones at government buildings and an Italian peacekeeping base in the western city of Herat, but no one was injured, said a witness, Faridoon Pooyaa.
About 5,000 people clashed with police in the town of Pulikhumri, north of Kabul, and the windows of several buildings and cars were smashed, said Sayed Afandi, a police commander.
Four people died and 19 were injured Monday in demonstrations in Afghanistan.
Muslim anger has been directed at Denmark, where the cartoons were first printed in a newspaper in September. Danish missions have been attacked and boycotts of Danish products launched in many Muslim countries.
The cartoons have since been reprinted by media outlets in other European countries, the United States and elsewhere sometimes to illustrate stories about the controversy but also by some who say they were supporting free speech.
In India's portion of the disputed region of Kashmir, police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters. At least six protesters and two police were injured in the clash, a police said.
The protest in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar was the largest to date in that Muslim country against the prophet drawings. There were no reports of violence.
Chief Minister Akram Durrani, the province's top elected official who led the rally, demanded the cartoonists "be punished like a terrorist."
"Islam is a religion of peace. It insists that all other religions and faiths should be respected," he told the crowd. "Nobody has the right to insult Islam and hurt the feelings of Muslims."
Danish citizens were also advised to leave Indonesia, where rowdy protests were held in at least four cities Tuesday. Danish missions, which have been repeatedly targeted by protesters, have been shut because of security concerns, said Niels Erik Anderson, the country's ambassador to Indonesia.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said his government had temporarily closed diplomatic missions in Palestinian territories where it shares a building with the Danish mission. He warned his citizens to be wary if traveling to the Middle East.
The Iranian newspaper Hamshahri invited foreign cartoonists to enter its Holocaust cartoon competition, which it said would be launched Monday. The newspaper is owned by the Tehran Municipality, which is dominated by allies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is well known for his opposition to Israel.
Last year, Ahmadinejad provoked outcries when he said on separate occasions that Israel should be "wiped off the map" and the Holocaust was a "myth."
Elsewhere, China criticized newspapers for publishing the cartoons and appealed for calm among outraged Muslims. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said publishing the cartoons "runs counter to the principle that different religions and civilizations should respect each other and live together in peace and harmony."
The European Union's executive office warned Iran Tuesday that attempts to boycott Danish goods or cancel trade contracts with European countries would lead to a further cooling of relations.
EU spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said the EU was trying to confirm comments made by Iran's president that the country should boycott Danish products in protest of the publishing of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
"A boycott of Danish goods is by definition a boycott of European goods," Laitenberger said. "A boycott hurts the economic interests of all parties."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday ordered his commerce minister to study scrapping all trade contacts with European countries whose newspapers published the caricatures, Iranian media reported.

WASHINGTON (Feb. 7) The Bush administration appealed Monday to Saudi Arabia to use its influence in the Arab world to help ease tensions sweeping the Middle East and western Europe over published cartoons of Islam's prophet Muhammad in Denmark.
While European and Muslim politicians around the world called for calm, the administration urged Saudi Arabia to take a leadership role to stem Muslim protests.
"Certainly the leaders of the Saudi government might be individuals who might fulfill that role," spokesman Sean McCormack said. "There are others in the region who also might fulfill that role as well."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan, meanwhile, issued a broad appeal to "all governments to take steps to lower tensions and prevent violence."
McCormack said the United States strongly condemned acts of violence. He said Assistant Secretary of State David Welch called the Syrian ambassador over the weekend "to express our strong protest and condemnation" of the torching of the Danish embassy in Damascus on Saturday.
"Syria is a country where protests don't just occur spontaneously, certainly not of this sort, not without the knowledge and support of the government," McCormack said.
On Saturday, the Norwegian embassy in Damascus also was set ablaze, and on Sunday, the Danish embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, was burned during a rampage by thousands of Muslim protesters.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to the Danish and Norwegian foreign ministers over the weekend, McCormack said.
A South African court last Saturday prohibited newspapers from publishing the cartoons. And an editor of a weekly in Jordan was arrested and charged with insulting religion after the cartoons were published.
But the Bush administration sought to strike a balance between freedom of expression and igniting violence.
"Along with free speech, with that type of freedom of expression, comes responsibilities," McCormack said. "And we would condemn any acts of violence that might be associated with this issue."
"We understood why many Muslims found the cartoons offensive," he said. "But we also spoke out very clearly in support of freedom of the press

WASHINGTON (Feb. 2) President Bush said yesterday the United States would defend Israel militarily if necessary against Iran, a statement that appeared to be his most explicit commitment to Israel's defense.
In an interview with Reuters, Bush said he is concerned about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's "menacing talk" about Israel, such as his comments denying the Holocaust and saying Israel should be wiped off the map.
"Israel is a solid ally of the United States. We will rise to Israel's defense, if need be. So this kind of menacing talk is disturbing. It's not only disturbing to the United States, it's disturbing for other countries in the world, as well," Bush said.
Asked whether he meant the United States would rise to Israel's defense militarily, Bush said: "You bet, we'll defend Israel."
The Jewish state sought some sort of military alliance with the United States shortly after it was founded in 1948, but was rebuffed by several presidents, partly out of fear of offending Arabs. Since then, Israel has established the principle of securing its own defense, including a nuclear deterrent, backed by large weapons sales by the United States.
Past presidents have spoken elliptically about helping Israel, a close ally, in a conflict. The United States has no military alliance with Israel, though President Bill Clinton dangled the prospect of a military alliance as part of a final peace deal, said Dennis Ross, a senior Clinton adviser on the region.
Ross said he could not recall a president ever saying so clearly the United States would come to Israel's defense. But he said it is a "logical extension" of existing policy, because Israel has never before faced the threat of a foe with a possible nuclear weapon.
"This proves once again the United States is the best friend and ally of Israel," said Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon. "We are very proud of this special relationship, which is the cornerstone of stability in the Middle East, for the mutual benefit of Israel, the U.S. and all peace-loving countries in the region and beyond."
The White House played down Bush's comments, saying they are in line with previous remarks and do not represent new policy. But examples provided by the White House were not as explicit, with Bush publicly saying he was "committed to the security of Israel as a vibrant Jewish state" or "committed to the safety of Israel."
The White House yesterday also provided a partial transcript of an interview in July 2004, in which Bush replied "yes" when asked whether U.S. presidents are obligated to defend Israel. The White House did not identify the newspaper, which apparently did not report the remark.
Last month, in an interview on CNBC, Vice President Cheney was asked whether the United States would provide military assistance if Iran attacked. "I don't think there's any question but what we would support Israel under those circumstances," Cheney said.