More Loose Lips

This morning I came across an article in Stars and Stripes entitled "State Dept. warns candidates on loose lips." Turns out that the usually mild-mannered diplomats are harrumphed by the Obama-Clinton feud over who would meet with which dictator and whether it would be best to invade Pakistan or merely bomb the country with nuclear weapons. (Wait, I thought Democrats were against the use of force under any circumstances, other then when somebody invades you -- and then only if they won't leave after being reasoned with.)

The last straw seems to have been erstwhile Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo, who advocated threatening to bomb Mecca and Medina to deter attacks against the U.S. "It is absolutely outrageous and reprehensible for anyone to suggest attacks on holy sites, whether they are Muslim, Christian, Jewish or those of any other religion," the State Department spokesman told reporters, "shaking his head in disgust." (More outrageous than car bombs killing hundreds of innocent people?)

Ironically, Tancredo's volley, as it were, was the only thing that makes sense out of this entire episode. If Al Qaeda is put on notice that the next terrorist incident in New York, London, etc., will result in the destruction of some holy place, maybe they'll listen. And if they don't, maybe other Muslims will finally hold them accountable for their nihilism.

After all, these deranged people don't care about killing innocents; maybe they'll care about the center of that which they claim to hold most dear, their religious faith. Then again, they've had no compunction about using mosques as staging grounds and ammo dumps, knowing that the "sensitive" Americans would never attack such sacred places. (They err in actually firing weapons from the mosques, because then those places lose their protected status.)

Is there any doubt, by the way, that the bad guys want the Democrats to win in '08? If the GOP media strategists are at all competent, I'd expect to see some ads making that point about a year from now.