Terrorists are indeed streaming from a breeding ground in the Near East. Iran:

Fighting in Samarra has left over 150 rebels and one U.S. soldier dead. On Sunday, residents said they heard random explosions as U.S. and Iraqi forces hunted for insurgent holdouts.

Iraqi police have been patrolling the city, while U.S. troops and Iraqi Forces search houses for rebels and weapons caches. Military sources also confirmed that following extensive clashes between U.S. troops and the rebel militia, a large number of armed agents working for Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) were arrested. Naqib’s comments came after U.S. forces separately confirmed the arrests of 80 Iranian fighters who had posed as regular Iraqis.

Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Sabah Kazem also recently confirmed that the flow of Iranian arms and agents into Iraq was continuing. "The Iranian regime's declared policy contradicts the events that are taking place,” he said.

Press agencies may want to rethink referring to these murderers as "Iraqi insurgents." At some time in the future, even the left's insistence to the contrary will be drowned out by the obvious. It can't come too soon: As Michael Ledeen maintains, defeating terror depends on the fall of theocratic Iran.

ALSO: L. Paul Bremer taken out of context. Wretchard obliges.

THEY COME FROM HERE, THEY COME FROM THERE: Al Qaeda terrorists come from North Africa. Via Syria. Report here.

Like the depths reached by the United Nations Oil-for-Food scandal, this should come to absolutely no surprise:

Iraqi intelligence documents, confiscated by U.S. forces and obtained by CNSNews.com, show numerous efforts by Saddam Hussein's regime to work with some of the world's most notorious terror organizations, including al Qaeda, to target Americans. They demonstrate that Saddam's government possessed mustard gas and anthrax, both considered weapons of mass destruction, in the summer of 2000, during the period in which United Nations weapons inspectors were not present in Iraq. And the papers show that Iraq trained dozens of terrorists inside its borders.

Why hasn't the Bush administration been pounding the table over this? According to the report, this is the essence of "breaking news":

The senior government official and source of the Iraqi intelligence memos, explained that the reason the documents have not been made public before now is that the government has "thousands and thousands of documents waiting to be translated.

"It is unlikely they even know this exists," the source added.

The government official also explained that the motivation for leaking the documents, "is strictly national security and helping with the war on terrorism by focusing this country's attention on facts and away from political posturing.

"This is too important to let it get caught up in the political process," the source told CNSNews.com.

Most of us realize that only conspiracy nuts and the French readers' market believe wacky theories about September 11th. How much longer until the denial of Saddam Hussein's malicious activities is broadly regarded as equally absurd?

It's impossible to scheme with continuity when members of terrorist executive circles turn up dead on a daily basis (emphasis mine):

On September 28, 2004 at 4:04 a.m., Baghdad time, Multi-National Force-Iraq conducted a precision strike on a confirmed Abu Musab Al Zarqawi terrorist site in southern Fallujah. Several credible intelligence sources confirmed that members of the terrorist group were operating at the site at the time of the strike.

Specifically identified at the location were rising AMZ associates. Recent strikes against the AMZ network have changed the leadership structure of the terrorist group causing numerous reorganizations within the group.

If intelligence is accurate, then American forces are, with the help of Iraqi intelligence and informants, making the Islamofascist stay in Fallujah a painful one, keeping the host of scarf-wrapped thugs off-balance until the promised Iraqi-led offensive arrives. An added benefit is the chance to destabilize the tangled web of compacts centered around Abu Musab al-Zarqawi; since strongmen are never in league because of mutual trust, a significant loss of power in leading factions could introduce an irresistable opportunity for power seizure.

Incidentally, why would the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff practically set a calendar date for an operation intended to wipe out the last authoritarian enclave in Iraq? He probably wouldn't — so the end of Fallujah's terrorist presence might come sooner than expected.

EXPECTATIONS: Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is promising electoral participation by residents of terrorist-threatened locales — and military action in an insurgent-controlled Fallujah, having "waited more than enough." Last week, the Prime Minister spoke with Israel's foreign minister, the two apparently discussing diplomatic arrangements. Given that Baghdad's leadership will receive more ridicule than admiration from their backwards, dictatorial Arab neighbors, an alliance with the one regional power dedicated to fighting Iraq's enemies is wise.

Ali has challenged fellow Iraqi blogger "Riverbend" on her latest anti-American screed's latitude with the truth, while defending — against annoyed leftists — an Iraqi's right to agree with those who liberated him.

PRETENDING: Matthew Scully:

Finally there is Mr. Kerry's charge that, among all the other miscalculations, "The administration told us we'd be greeted as liberators. They were wrong." Actually, that is exactly how they were greeted [the most striking examples here, here, here, here and here], and none of the setbacks since then change this fact. For a presidential candidate to speak scornfully of the claim that American and allied forces liberated that country is to play, falsely and perversely, into the idea that the Iraqi people are unfit for self-government and best left to their fate.

"Perverse" is exactly the right word. In his landmark didacticism Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis spoke of forgiveness and the danger of holding one's enemies to deliberately impossible standards:

[I]t is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black. Finally, we shall insist on seeing everything — God and our friends and ourselves included — as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be fixed forever in a universe of pure hatred.

We have a perfect example of that dogma today, from this weblog (the latest example I noted yesterday):

Now, there's hardly anything dedicated leftists detest more than America as America or military action. Just imagine what they'd do when faced with American-led military force ensuring peace by liberating the Third World — and slowly succeeding. Have an idea? In fact, we've already found out: leftists decided to drop the Third World from their list of concerns to better oppose us.

There's another passage I found when looking up the first:

War is a dreadful thing, and I can respect an honest pacifist, though I think he is entirely mistaken. What I cannot understand is this sort of semipacifism you get nowadays which gives people the idea that though you have to fight, you ought to do it with a long face and as if you were ashamed of it.

"A long face." Figurative and literal. John Kerry, the left and the plain foolish embody disheartenment, which sits along with resentment as ghastly jamb figures abreast the doorway to hatred and ruin.

Terrorists continue their pinprick attempts to disrupt the creation of Iraq's security forces. Given that the numbers of police, national guard and other branches have continued to swell day after day, for over a year, despite the threat of murder, the insurgent work seems awfully fruitless. Then again, the enemies of freedom always have the contemptible words of John Kerry to rally them.

And one wonders how our soldiers take to their gallant work being cast off as "incompetence" amid "chaos." Try as the Democratic presidential candidate might to refine his insults, for all the Bush administration can direct, an enormous measure of the occupation's successes have come from the efforts of individual units.

As for the troops, two Marine commanders have voiced their disagreement and disappointment with the results of their April-May engagement in Fallujah. But Americans are ready and willing to relocate terrorists from Iraq to oblivion:

Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment — known as “The Rock” — will be in the thick of the fight if and when U.S. military commanders decide to retake Fallujah from insurgents, battalion commander Lt. Col. Justin Gubler said.

The unit, which arrived at Camp Habbaniyah two weeks ago, is already operating on the outskirts of Fallujah. Its area of operations includes territory southwest of the city. It splits responsibility for Fallujah with Marines from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force stationed to the east, Gubler said.

...Company C, 1-503 soldier Sgt. Dale Rogers, 36, of Winston Salem, N.C., said he is eager to take the fight to the enemy and not even slightly apprehensive about going into Fallujah.

“We are the best-trained force in the world,” Rogers said. “These terrorists cannot fathom the hell we are going to unleash on them. It doesn’t matter where we are ordered to fight, whether it be Fallujah or Ramadi, we are ready.”

The insurgents prefer to attack and then run away, he said.

“Makes no matter to us; we will just hunt them down and kill them. Running does them no good,” he said. “They’ll just die tired.”

Between Americans and Iraqis unwilling to rest before victory, the enemy has two choices: destruction now or later. Our forces deserve, at the very least, a commander-in-chief who understands their ability and their mission.

AS GOES THE MESSAGE: So go the polls, if Rasmussen Reports has anything to say about it. John Kerry's adoption of Howard Dean's leftist, defeatist rhetoric may have sunk him further, and certainly hasn't won any votes. Obviously going nowhere, John Kerry will probably swing (limp?) back to wobbly support of Iraq's liberation and democratization by September 30th.

Or five, as the case may be:

More than 20 Iraqi youth, dressed in complete baseball uniforms, made history when they played in the five-inning baseball game. Because there are no previous records of an official baseball game played during or after Saddam Hussein's regime, the Altun Kupri youth played the country's first one in decades.

"Outlaw" Soldiers of Company C, Task Force 2-11 Field Artillery put the game together for the Iraqi youth. All of the coaches and umpires were Outlaws or their interpreters who helped guide the youth in the game.

...One thing that the Outlaws stressed in the scrimmages was to persevere with teamwork.

"We always talked to them about never giving up and working together as a team" Haught said. "The team that actually won the [official] game never won a scrimmage game. We played about 20 scrimmage games and always talked to them about not quitting. Then sure enough they win."

John Kerry will regret betting against the Iraqi people. (Story via the Corner.)

Michael Novak on the approaching days:

Expect a lot of fighting in Iraq during the next six weeks. The climactic days of the terrorist guerrilla war are at hand. When the guerrillas are broken here, and exposed to the world as the losers they are, then the Baathists in Syria and the tyrants in Tehran know they are next in getting the full attention of the United States, and feeling the full pressures of the desire for liberty among their own people. Nearly half their population is under 25 years old, and those young people are hungry for the opportunities they know the rest of the world shares, which they currently do not.

Our own Democratic party, once the party of democracy and human rights, has lost its understanding of the power of the cause of liberty overseas, among the world's most repressed and mistreated peoples. Fewer than half today's Democratic party, according to polls, grasps what is at stake in the war in Iraq. But a lot of U.S. Democrats do. They are cheering for our troops on the offensive in Iraq, and they are going to vote in droves for George W. Bush, much to the amazement of those who have not yet grasped the transformation of the world that occurred after September, 2001.

Now awash in the moral apostasy of abandonment, isolationism and appeasement, John Kerry has bet a White House bid against the traditional interests and values of Americans. And, as Ali makes clear, those of Iraqis, too.

DON'T SAY YOU'RE DOING IT FOR THE GREATER GOOD, SENATOR: Jim Robbins adds a powerfully vindicative poll to facts inconvenient to John Kerry, like Saddam Hussein's long-standing ties to al Qaeda and his unreformed thirst for catastrophic weapons:

The IRI poll revealed that three quarters of Iraqis are hopeful for the future, that 80 percent believe things will slowly get better, two-thirds think life will be better a year from now and seventy percent would not leave Iraq if given a chance. Eighty-seven percent plan to vote in the upcoming election (much greater than US voter participation), and only about 1.5 percent are concerned that the security situation makes things too unstable to vote. Fifty-eight percent believe democracy is either very or somewhat likely to succeed.

What does John Kerry offer (today, at around 10:30 AM, Eastern)? An America-First platform no less stingy than "Iraqis took your skate park!"

It couldn't have happened to more deserving would-be murderers:

Iraqi National Guard troops patrolling in the Wasit Province area of the Polish-led Multi-National Division Central South, reported that anti-Iraqi forces blew themselves up as they prepared an Improvised Explosive Device in Suwayra Sept. 19. The explosion occurred just after midnight killing several anti-Iraqi force personnel as they prepared the IED for Iraqi forces, Iraqi citizens or Multi-National Forces to come upon.

Iraqi security and Multi-National forces will continue to counter and disrupt anti-Iraqi activities, working for a free, secure and prosperous Iraq.

Who's claiming that terrorist operations have grown in complexity?

AND: Here's a heartening story on the progress of firefighters in Baghdad. John Kerry will be fit to be tied.

FOR GOOD MEASURE: The Iraqi Air Force is flying solo in the south.

Yesterday we were reminded of the free world's unique ability to defeat itself when dissatisfied senators paraded the Sunday news circuit and leveled criticisms — more of it overemotional language than substantive advice — at the president. Republicans Chuck Hagel and Richard Lugar share the distinction of being two of the most backwards-looking senators, neither particularly willing to depart from the failed American Near East policies of appeasement and moral indifference. Hagel can be best known for holding his veteran status against civilians with whom he disagrees; Lugar's most notable contribution to the political debate this year was to suggest a retraction of the Coalition Provisional Authority's power transfer to Iraqis almost immediately after April's failed terrorist insurrections began, a decision that looks even more panicked now than it did then. True to form, both men were short on help and long on scolds. Interestingly, their detraction of reconstruction funding was an issue of flat monetary amounts and not practical application, a debate that could easily be won by proponents of the Commander's Emergency Response Program.

Senator John McCain, though not without a measure of grandstanding, made a specific request of the administration that the insurgency in central Iraq be crushed by Americans now, and not by an Iraqi-led force within the next three-and-a-half months as described by General Richard Myers. Unlike his colleagues, McCain did not co-opt the Democratic Party's emerging rhetorical line that good news from Iraq is fabrication.

That canard is an interesting change of course for Democrats, the left and the mainstream press. Before now these parties were content to offer a slanted picture of Iraq that focused on the otherwise geographically confined nature of terrorists, omitted countless stories of small-but-effective public works successes and overwhelming evidence of Iraqis' investment in a democratic future. Now — and quite suddenly — the president's opponents have sacrificed their standing in the politics of can-do to commit themselves to concentrated discouragement, a sign that courageous optimism can cut through any volume of hopelessness.

"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win"? It looks that way. President Bush has much to owe to an intrepid reelection platform, and the left apparently believes his message troubling enough to target directly. Why the left didn't see the right's conviction and raise it is a mystery until one simply accepts that the left cannot bring itself to believe that American power alone is a force for good in the world. Most Americans, however, would agree with the president. Considering John Kerry's poor showing with defeatism, whatever light bruises Bush suffers from this assault will be worth victory through electoral repudiation.

VERY SENATORIAL: Now Richard Lugar is praising the Bush administration and chastising John Kerry. Asks Jim Geraghty, "what the heck got into Dick Lugar?" Rather: what got taken out, by whom, and with what well-deserved string of expletives.

Which countries opposed the liberation of Iraq? Those whose governments made money hand over fist with "good steward" Saddam Hussein. Like France:

The Italian businessman at the centre of a furious row between France and Italy over whose intelligence service was to blame for bogus documents suggesting Saddam Hussein was seeking to buy material for nuclear bombs has admitted that he was in the pay of France.

...Italian diplomats have claimed that, by disseminating bogus documents stating that Iraq was trying to buy low-grade "yellowcake" uranium from Niger, France was trying to "set up" Britain and America in the hope that when the mistake was revealed it would undermine the case for war, which it wanted to prevent.

It has since been established by three independent sources — Britain's Butler report, Joe "Frogmarch" Wilson's Nigerian contact and this past July's Senate Intelligence Committee report — that Ba'athist Iraq was soliciting numerous sources for uranium. About two low-enriched tons of the stuff was flown to the United States in July from a 500-ton yellowcake stockpile in the 23,000-acre al Tuwaitha industrial weapons complex. The revitalized picture of the defiant, WMD-determined Saddam Hussein is not a sound basis for a political claim — which won't stop the straw-grasping left, of course. But it will explain their failure to impart it to history.