Archived news and commentary: January 20 - 26, 2003

2003/03/24 - 2003/03/30
2003/03/17 - 2003/03/23
2003/03/10 - 2003/03/16
2003/03/03 - 2003/03/09
2003/02/24 - 2003/03/02
2003/02/17 - 2003/02/23
2003/02/10 - 2003/02/16
2003/02/03 - 2003/02/09
2003/01/27 - 2003/02/02
2003/01/20 - 2003/01/26
2003/01/13 - 2003/01/19
2003/01/06 - 2003/01/12
2002/12/30 - 2003/01/05

Sunday, January 26, 2003

News and commentary:

"Poison warfare suits found in mosque raid" (Leo Schlink, Herald Sun, 2003/01/27)
Londonistan III: "British police investigating a terror plot by Islamic saboteurs have found chemical warfare protection suits in a north London mosque. The discovery has shocked detectives, who believe the find confirms supporters of Osama bin Laden were planning a poison attack on civilian targets in Britain. Scotland Yard and MI5 detectives had kept the discovery of the nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) suits secret. They feared disclosing it would spark panic. Government ministers have warned any suggestion that the Finsbury Park mosque had been involved would have worrying racist overtones." (Found via Glenn Reynolds, who wonders about the "worrying racist overtones" warning: "It would? Why, exactly?")

"All eyes on Britain as terror war accelerates" (Jason Burke, The Observer, 2003/01/26)
Londonistan II: "After the war against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan finished in 1989, many of the radical Arab volunteers who had fought alongside the Afghans had returned to their home countries and carried on the battle - against their own governments. In Algiers, Cairo and elsewhere, security forces reacted with ferocious crackdowns. Soon the militants realised they needed a safe haven. With a long tradition of welcoming dissidents, Britain, to the disgust of many foreign governments, was prepared to provide one. ...
As Algerian militants set off bombs in Paris, the French investigators traced their finances back to 'Londonistan', as they dubbed it. 'They would do nothing,' a French judicial source said last week. 'We told them what was going on but they didn't care.'
On one occasion two activists deported from France to Burkina Faso turned up in the UK shortly afterwards. ...
'There was a deal with these guys,' one former Special Branch officer told The Observer. 'We told them if you don't cause us any problems, then we won't bother you.'"

"Hunt for 1,200 Britons who trained with al-Qa'eda" (David Bamber, The Sunday Telegraph, 2003/01/26)
Londonistan I: "Almost 1,200 British Muslims trained with Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda terrorist network in Afghanistan, The Telegraph has learnt. The names, addresses and other details of the Britons were found by British military intelligence during searches of bin Laden's cave complex at Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan. Many of the Britons, all of whom trained at al-Qa'eda camps in Afghanistan, are now thought to have returned to Britain while others are believed to have died in combat. ... A senior Whitehall official confirmed the discovery, saying: 'It was shocking to realise that so many young Britons had travelled to train with Osama bin Laden, al-Qa'eda and the Taliban.'"

"Fallaci: 'J'Accuse'" (New York Post, 2003/01/26)
An editorial on Oriana Fallaci's "The Rage and the Pride": "Especially shocking for her readers among Europe's elites, Fallaci worries about the tolerance in Europe of large Islamic minorities that have not only not assimilated but have often abused the hospitality of the larger society, building mosques that "swarm with terrorists..." Not for Fallaci pious platitudes about Islam being a "religion of peace." She recalls the Taliban's demolition of the Bamiyan Buddhas, and the destruction of Beirut's churches in Lebanon that she witnessed as a war correspondent in 1982, and talks of a "reverse crusade," quoting a Muslim scholar who told a Vatican synod, 'By means of your democracy we shall invade you, by means of our religion we will dominate you.'" (See also: "'We Will Dominate You'" (Giuseppe Germano Bernardini, The Middle East Quarterly, from the December 2001 issue): "During an official meeting on Islamic-Christian dialogue, an authoritative Muslim person, speaking to the Christians participating, at one point said very calmly and assuredly: 'Thanks to your democratic laws we will invade you; thanks to our religious laws we will dominate you.'")

"Demonstrators in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2003"
(Fabrice Coffrini, AP Photo/Keystone, 2003/01/25)

"Euro Anti-Semitism Watch" (Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish, 2003/01/26)
Sullivan on the photo above: "Another picture of depravity. The anti-globalization, anti-war forces have now descended into Hitlerian anti-Semitism. I love the yellow stars, don't you? If these people were allied with me, I'd be horrified. Notice how the AP doesn't even mention the anti-Semitism involved."

"The Quarrel Over Iraq Gets Ugly" (Serge Schmemann, The New York Times, 2003/01/26)
"But last week, the dispute burst through the traditional facade of diplomatic niceties and revealed sentiments far different, and potentially more fateful, than the internecine squabbles of the cold war. If Washington attacks Iraq on its own, the French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, declared, it would be "a victory for the law of the strongest." France and Germany, retorted Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, were history. ... The Europeans have put their faith in multilateral institutions, while Mr. Bush's Washington, especially since Sept. 11, 2001, believes in the extraordinary power of the United States as the primary instrument of security and freedom around the world. As the administration proclaimed in its National Security Strategy, the United States "possesses unprecedented — and unequaled — strength and influence in the world" that "must be used to promote a balance of power that favors freedom." To one senior European diplomat in Washington, these conflicting perspectives threaten to make an American invasion of Iraq into a "defining moment," a trans-Atlantic rift with repercussions on crises from Korea to the Middle East."

"How Many People Has Hussein Killed?" (John F. Burns, The New York Times, 2003/01/26)
"In the end, if an American-led invasion ousts Mr. Hussein, and especially if an attack is launched without convincing proof that Iraq is still harboring forbidden arms, history may judge that the stronger case was the one that needed no inspectors to confirm: that Saddam Hussein, in his 23 years in power, plunged this country into a bloodbath of medieval proportions, and exported some of that terror to his neighbors. ... Stalin killed 20 million of his own people, historians have concluded. Even on a proportional basis, his crimes far surpass Mr. Hussein's, but figures of a million dead Iraqis, in war and through terror, may not be far from the mark, in a country of 22 million people."

"This is the way Saddam Hussein sees it" (Con Coughlin, The Sunday Telegraph, 2003/01/26)
"From Saddam's point of view, he has won virtually every round in his contest with Washington since last spring, when Mr Bush and Mr Blair declared their intention to force Iraq to comply with its international obligations. Not even the recent discovery of a number of fully-operational Iraqi chemical weapons warheads, and the seizure of 3,000 pages of documents that prove categorically that Iraq is continuing with its effort to build an atom bomb, has affected the disinclination of the majority of the Western powers to sanction military action against Baghdad.
This distinct lack of political will, furthermore, to confront the Iraqi leader will simply confirm one of Saddam's most sincerely held beliefs, namely that the liberal democracies of the West, even after the appalling events of September 11, do not have the stomach for a fight."

"IDF leaving Gaza; Palestinians: 12 killed, 51 wounded in raid" (Jonathan Lis and Amos Harel, Haaretz, 2003/01/26)
"Israel Defense Forces withdrew from Gaza City early Sunday morning after operations in which at least 12 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded, in the deepest incursion in more than two years of fighting, security and hospital officials said. Witnesses said dozens of armored vehicles backed by missile-firing helicopters rumbled into the Zaitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, a stronghold of the militant Islamic group Hamas that has carried out scores of suicide attacks."

Saturday, January 25, 2003

News and commentary:

"Men Seek to Breach U.N. Baghdad Compound" (Charles J. Hanley, AP/Yahoo! News, 2003/01/25)
"As he waved his arms frantically, the first two vehicles swerved around him, but the third stopped, journalists said. "Save me!" he shouted in Arabic and English, after which he was allowed to enter the vehicle. He was carrying a copybook, witnesses said.
Appearing agitated and frightened, the young man, with a closely trimmed beard and mustache, sat inside the white U.N.-marked utility vehicle for 10 minutes. At first, an inspection team leader sought help from nearby Iraqi soldiers, but the man refused to leave the vehicle as the uniformed men pulled on his sleeve and collar.
"I am unjustly treated!" he shouted.
Then U.N. security men arrived, and they and Iraqi police carried the man by his feet and arms into the fenced compound, the journalists said. Ueki said the man was turned over to Iraqi authorities at a government office adjacent to the compound."

"Transatlantic Chill? Blame Europe's Power Failure" (Gianni Riotta, The Washington Post Outlook, from the 2003/01/26 issue)
"Euro-American relations have come to this: A small traffic incident can become a symbol of a geopolitical brawl. Recently the phone in my apartment in New York City rang early in the morning. When I picked it up, a European friend was yelling. "My daughter is in America! Her boyfriend was stopped by the police and locked in jail for 48 hours," he bellowed. "See? They started with Guantanamo and end up with a police state." If this sounds like the ranting of a crazed friend, then lately it seems as though a lot of otherwise sober people on both continents are becoming unhinged. "The United States is becoming a problem for the world ... a factor of international disorder, fostering uncertainty and conflict wherever it can," writes the French author Emmanuel Todd in his book "Après l'Empire" (After the Empire), subtitled 'an essay on the rotting American system.'"

"Anti-Europeanism in America" (Timothy Garton Ash, The New York Review of Books, from the 2003/02/13 issue)
"Virtually everyone I spoke to on the East Coast agreed that there is a level of irritation with Europe and Europeans higher even than at the last memorable peak, in the early 1980s. Pens are dipped in acid and lips curled to pillory "the Europeans," also known as "the Euros," "the Euroids," "the 'peens," or "the Euroweenies." Richard Perle, now chairman of the Defense Policy Board, says Europe has lost its "moral compass" and France its "moral fiber." This irritation extends to the highest levels of the Bush administration. In conversations with senior administration officials I found that the phrase "our friends in Europe" was rather closely followed by "a pain in the butt."
The current stereotype of Europeans is easily summarized. Europeans are wimps. They are weak, petulant, hypocritical, disunited, duplicitous, sometimes anti-Semitic and often anti-American appeasers. In a word: "Euroweenies." Their values and their spines have dissolved in a lukewarm bath of multilateral, transnational, secular, and postmodern fudge. They spend their euros on wine, holidays, and bloated welfare states instead of on defense. Then they jeer from the sidelines while the United States does the hard and dirty business of keeping the world safe for Europeans. Americans, by contrast, are strong, principled defenders of freedom, standing tall in the patriotic service of the world's last truly sovereign nation-state."

"Merci, M. de Villepin" (William Kristol and Robert Kagan, The Weekly Standard, from the 2003/02/03 issue)
"It is now likely that U.N. Security Council authorization for war will be unobtainable, regardless of whether Saddam complies with Resolution 1441. Therefore, American politicians and the foreign policy elite will have to make clear, once and for all, whether or not they support the disarming of Iraq and the removal of Saddam's regime from power, by force, and without U.N. authorization. There can be no more obfuscation. ...
We would prefer it if France and Germany also joined forces with the United States in common defense of international security. We would prefer it if the U.N. Security Council supported war against Saddam. But most of all we want to see the United States and a coalition of willing partners take the action necessary to defend and preserve international security. The international situation has clarified. The case against Saddam is clear-cut. The Bush administration is, finally, united around the need for military action. Now the president, who has led us to this point, can give the word."

"Al-Qaeda suspects arrested in Spain linked to ricin gang" (David Sharrock and Daniel McGrory, The Times, 2003/01/25)
"Intelligence chiefs believe they have broken up a continent-wide al-Qaeda terror operation centred in Britain which was preparing to unleash a wave of chemical attacks in Europe. Raids across Spain and Italy in the past 48 hours have rounded up 21 Al-Qaeda suspects, many with links to the gang in London found manufacturing the poison ricin this month. One senior police source said: 'The past few weeks have seen us unpick a network of very dangerous men across Europe who we believe were very close to staging an attack.'" (See also: "Graphic: The Algerian Connection" (The Times, 2003/01/25))

Added in archive:
"Love-bombing bin Laden" (David Rieff, Salon.com, 2001/10/19)

Friday, January 24, 2003

News and commentary:

"Iraq Faces Massive U.S. Missile Barrage" (CBS News, 2003/01/24)
"If the Pentagon sticks to its current war plan, one day in March the Air Force and Navy will launch between 300 and 400 cruise missiles at targets in Iraq. As CBS News Correspondent David Martin reports, this is more than number that were launched during the entire 40 days of the first Gulf War. On the second day, the plan calls for launching another 300 to 400 cruise missiles. ... The battle plan is based on a concept developed at the National Defense University. It's called "Shock and Awe" and it focuses on the psychological destruction of the enemy's will to fight rather than the physical destruction of his military forces. "We want them to quit. We want them not to fight," says Harlan Ullman, one of the authors of the Shock and Awe concept which relies on large numbers of precision guided weapons. "So that you have this simultaneous effect, rather like the nuclear weapons at Hiroshima, not taking days or weeks but in minutes," says Ullman."

"Hamas leader says Palestinian Authority doesn't stop attacks on Israelis" (AP/The Jerusalem Post, 2003/01/24)
The Palestinian Authority has not tried to stop the militant group Hamas from carrying out attacks - including suicide bombings - on Israelis, the group's spiritual leader said on Friday in an interview with Israeli TV. The wheelchair-bound Hamas leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, said the Palestinian Authority did not actually help the group carry out suicide bombings, but gave tacit approval by doing nothing to stop the attacks. When asked by an Israeli TV journalist what assistance the Palestinian Authority gave Hamas, Yassin, wrapped in a brown blanket, said: 'They turn a blind eye or turn their back.'"

"'Major al-Qaeda attack foiled'" (BBC News, 2003/01/24)
"Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar says police have thwarted a "major terrorist attack", following the arrest of 16 suspected al-Qaeda militants in the north-eastern Catalonia region. Mr Aznar described the arrests as extraordinarily important, adding that explosives and chemical materials that could be used in a terrorist attack were seized. Two barrels were causing particular concern, with some unconfirmed reports in the Spanish media saying they contained the deadly poison ricin."

"Italy terror suspects had maps of London" (The Guardian, 2003/01/24)
"Italian police were questioning five Moroccan men today about a possible terrorist plot to attack London and Nato bases in Italy, after a routine immigration sweep uncovered explosives. The five Moroccan men were arrested on Wednesday at an abandoned farmhouse outside of Rovigo, a town in northern Italy about 30 miles south-west of Venice. Police who had been looking for illegal immigrants discovered a kilo of explosives, believed to be C4, and maps of central London. Police also reportedly found maps marking the site of Italian churches and Nato bases."

"Iraq 'preparing for chemical war'" (BBC News, 2003/01/24)
"Documents smuggled out of Iraq by an opposition group appear to indicate that Baghdad is equipping key units with protection against chemical weapons. The hand-written papers, said to have been smuggled out by the Iraqi opposition, refer to new chemical warfare suits to protect soldiers and distribution of the drug atropine to counter the effects of nerve gas. ... Iraq's Republican Guard and Special Republican Guard are among the recipients of special suits and atropine, according to the documents. A former arms inspector, Bill Tierney, told Today that "if both these two units have new equipment, then it would indicate that they are prepared to use chemical weapons.'"

"No Turning Back Now" (Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post, 2003/01/24)
"In November we obtained, at a price, a unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution demanding Iraqi disarmament. Now Germany, France, Russia and China have declared themselves opposed to war so long as Hans Blix can run around Iraq merely "containing" Saddam Hussein. The lull is over. Germany, which has declared its opposition to war, assumes the presidency of the Security Council next month. France has threatened to veto any resolution authorizing the use of force. The Security Council break with the United States is now open. ...
The president now faces his moment of truth. The one advantage of Resolution 1441 was that it gave us a window of legitimacy during which to mobilize, position equipment, launch carriers, line up bases - in short, create the infrastructure for disarming Hussein. However, now that the "world community" has shown that it never seriously intended to disarm Iraq, we are back on our own. This is the moment. There is no turning back."

"Nos Amis the French" (The Wall Street Journal, 2003/01/24)
"Can the French read? We ask this after the latest French government threat to veto any U.N. Security Council effort to enforce the resolution that the French have already voted for, indeed that they helped write. Perhaps educational standards are slipping in Paris. Certainly loyalty standards are. ... If French U.N. promises are to be taken seriously, then what we have here is in fact Gallic contempt for the "international community" that the French claim to honor. They are not only encouraging Saddam to resist but they are also putting an American President into a position where he will have no choice but to act on his own and demonstrate how irrelevant to world security the U.N. Security Council, complete with its French veto, really is."

"The message from the Bush camp: 'It's war within weeks'" (Julian Borger et al., The Guardian, 2003/01/24)
"President George Bush is determined to go to war with Saddam Hussein in the next few weeks, without UN backing if necessary, according to authoritative sources in Washington and London. The US president is "to turn up the heat" in his state of the union address on Tuesday. "The pressure comes from President Bush and it is felt all the way down," a European official said. "They're talking about weeks, not months. Months is a banned word now." ... A key moment will now be the state of the union address. According to a Washington source, the US administration remains divided along old fault lines about the precise timescale of war. The US secretary of state, Donald Rumsfeld, wants Mr Bush to set a clear and imminent deadline. But Mr Powell, is resisting, asking for a little more time for diplomatic coalition-building. But both sides of the divide are making it increasingly clear that the end result will be military action, with or without UN backing."

Thursday, January 23, 2003

News and commentary:

"Jack Lang: The Bush Team is 'possessed with totalitarianism'" (AFP/Le Figaro, 2003/01/23)
It's interesting to note the disproportionate European reactions to Rumsfeld characterization of France and Germany as the "old Europe". You say old. I say possessed with totalitarianism. Let's call the whole thing off: "Jack Lang, former chairman of the Foreign Affairs commission at the Assemblée nationale, accused on Thursday the cabinet of the American President George W. Bush of being "possessed with totalitarianism." Reacting in a press release to the statements of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who assailed "old Europe" on the subject of French and German opposition to a short term intervention in Iraq, Jack Lang asserted that "Mr. Rumsfeld's game is irresponsible, dangerous and criminal." "Since Mr. Rumsfeld does not hesitate to criticize our two countries, he deserves a frank reply: the war he seeks will profit American canon dealers and will play into the hands of the terrorists by exacerbating the tensions in the Muslim world," he said. According to the Socialist MP, the 'in this matter, the American government is the best objective ally of fanatics and terrorists.'" (Note: The link leads to the French original, which is translated by Douglas. See also: "Rumsfeld dismisses 'old Europe' defiance on Iraq" (CBC, 2003/01/23): "Rumsfeld seemed unimpressed with the French and German position, and said the two countries don't speak for all of Europe. "Now you're thinking of Europe as Germany and France. I don't. I think that's old Europe," he said. "If you look at the entire NATO Europe today, the centre of gravity is shifting to the East," said Rumsfeld.")

"The Rage of Oriana Fallaci" (George Gurley, The New York Observer, from the 2003/01/27 issue)
An interview with Oriana Fallaci on her book "The Rage and the Pride": "'I have been months and months and months of best-seller No. 1,' Ms. Fallaci said in her strong Florentine accent. "I do not say this to make self-congratulations. I say this to underline my thesis — that the moment was mature! That I have put the finger on the nerve of something: the Muslims' immigration, which grows and grows without inserting itself in our way of life, without accepting our way of life and, on the contrary, trying to impose on us its way of life …
And people in Europe are so exasperated by the arrogance of most of these 'invaders' and being blackmailed with the unfair term 'racist' when they protest, that there was a kind of thirst for a book like this." …
"You know in the turning of history there are, at times, a brusque turn," she said. "Consider all the steps of history. I'm afraid that we are now at one of those turns. Not because we want it. Because it is imposed on us. It is not this time a revolution, like the American Revolution or the French Revolution …
It is a counterrevolution! Alas. And it is against us. I am kind of happy not to have ahead of me a very long future which will confirm my prediction. But you will live all of it."

"Lunatic asylum policy" (Rod Liddle, The Spectator, from the 2003/01/25 issue)
"By our own lights, then — by the criteria through which we adjudge eligibility for asylum — there is pretty much nobody left in Algeria to whom we should deny entry. They should all be here, clutching their below-the-poverty-line £37.77 per week. The innocent, the persecuted, the victimised and, indeed, the government ministers, the torturers, the bombers. All have their very lives at risk. So, come one Algerian, come on 20 million.
So the real problem is a labyrinth of initially well-meant supranational agreements, buttressed by a plethora of human-rights groups policing from the sidelines, against which our domestic politicians appear powerless. We can’t, as some on the Right wish, extract ourselves from the various treaties and conventions because, as the Home Office puts it, the geopolitical consequences would be enormous, what with the UK being a permanent member of the UN Security Council and all that: ‘The problem is, all these rules about refugees — the Geneva Convention and the 1951 Human Rights Convention included — were devised for a different age. They are outdated.’ And what fun it has been trying to change them. The Home Office is trying, through the EU. Here’s an understatement: it may take some time."

"The Cold Test" (Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker, from the 2003/01/27 issue)
Hersh on Pakistan and the North Korean nuclear program: "Within two weeks of September 11th, Bush lifted the sanctions that had been imposed on Pakistan because of its nuclear-weapons activities. In the view of American disarmament experts, the sanctions had in any case failed to deal with one troubling issue: the close ties between some scientists working for the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and radical Islamic groups. "There is an awful lot of Al Qaeda sympathy within Pakistan's nuclear program," an intelligence official told me. One American nonproliferation expert said, "Right now, the most dangerous country in the world is Pakistan. If we're incinerated next week, it'll be because of H.E.U." - highly enriched uranium - "that was given to Al Qaeda by Pakistan." Pakistan's relative poverty could pose additional risks. In early January, a Web-based Pakistani-exile newspaper opposed to the Musharraf government reported that, in the past six years, nine nuclear scientists had emigrated from Pakistan - apparently in search of better pay - and could not be located. An American intelligence official I spoke with called Pakistan's behavior the "worst nightmare" of the international arms-control community: a Third World country becoming an instrument of proliferation."

"Why We Know Iraq Is Lying" (Condoleezza Rice, The Washington Post, 2003/01/23)
"Eleven weeks after the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution demanding — yet again — that Iraq disclose and disarm all its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs, it is appropriate to ask, "Has Saddam Hussein finally decided to voluntarily disarm?" Unfortunately, the answer is a clear and resounding no. ... Many questions remain about Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and arsenal — and it is Iraq's obligation to provide answers. It is failing in spectacular fashion. By both its actions and its inactions, Iraq is proving not that it is a nation bent on disarmament, but that it is a nation with something to hide. Iraq is still treating inspections as a game. It should know that time is running out."

"Why They Cry 'Non!'" (Max Boot, Los Angeles Times, 2003/01/23)
"Of all Bush administration officials, Colin Powell is the one held in highest esteem in Europe. It's not hard to see why. Just like the Europeans, he doesn't want the United States to disarm Saddam Hussein without the backing of the United Nations. The secretary of State even managed to convince President Bush to seek U.N. support back in August. Thereafter he spent two months heroically haggling - mainly with French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin - over the text of a resolution that would win the assent of the entire Security Council. So how does De Villepin repay his negotiating partner? With a kick in the teeth."

"Berlin blinkered" (The Times, 2003/01/23)
"The German Chancellor’s declaration that Berlin would vote against any United Nations resolution authorising the use of force against Iraq is not simply unhelpful; it is a contemptuous spurning of those who have protected German security for two generations, a self-serving attempt to revive his flagging political fortunes and a crass signal of Western division to Baghdad."

"The War According to John le Carre" (Richard Cohen, The Washington Post, 2003/01/23)
Cohen on John le Carré's "The United States of America has gone mad": "I found it riveting - not for its content, which is absolute blarney - but for what it says about America's image abroad and, just as important, the intellectual collapse of what is called the antiwar movement. In le Carre's formulation, the United States is being run by the "Bush junta," and any war with Iraq would be waged on account of oil - or variously, for colonialist reasons or simply to play the bully. Even "poor mad little North Korea" is somehow characterized as a victim - an example, I suppose, of le Carre's fictive gifts. What's truly disturbing about the essay is not just that le Carre's America is unrecognizable to me but that it says nothing - absolutely nothing - about what to do with Saddam Hussein. ...
This is a more pernicious madness than the one le Carre says has seized the United States. It caricatures Bush. It explains nothing and, worse, it offers no alternatives. If there is an argument to be made against a war with Iraq, then what it is? Le Carre does not say. In general, the entire left does not say. Instead, we get le Carre-like rants against Big Oil or - again le Carre - a "colonialist adventure." As with the period before World War II, a certain segment of the left has simply stopped thinking." (See also: "The United States of America has gone mad" (John le Carré, The Times, 2003/01/15))

"Imam 'instructed British Muslims to kill infidels'" (Sam Lister, The Times, 2003/01/23)
"A Muslim cleric toured Britain for four years urging audiences to observe the teachings of Osama bin Laden and kill all Jews, Hindus and Westerners by any means available, including chemical and nuclear weapons, a court was told yesterday. Abdullah el-Faisal, a 39-year-old imam, addressed thousands of young Muslims across the country on their "pressing duty" to learn how to fire guns, fly planes and use missiles in their mission to "kill all unbelievers". ... In Jihad, a tape recovered by police after the unrelated arrest of a motorist in Dorset, the sheikh is alleged to have instructed Muslim women to raise their children "with the jihad mentality" by giving them toy guns. Reminding the jury that the tape had been made shortly after September 11, Mr Perry added that the defendant had stated that "assassination was lawful" and that a Muslim's primary task was "to lessen the population of the unbelievers". In another tape he is alleged to have described the rewards of such an action, saying: 'This is how wonderful it is to kill a kuffar (an unbeliever). You crawl on his back and while you are pushing him down into the hellfire, you are going into paradise.'"

Wednesday, January 22, 2003

News and commentary:

"Are Multiculturalists Legalizing Rape?" (James Taranto, Best of the Web Today, 2003/01/22)
"When people accept futility and the absurd as normal, the culture is decadent. The term is not a slur; it is a technical label." - Jacques Barzun in "From Dawn to Decadence":
"Back in July, we noted an article in which Bruce Bawer quoted a Norwegian professor, commenting on the statistic that 65% of rapes in Norway were committed by "non-Western" immigrants, mostly Muslims, as remarking that the victims had it coming. "Norwegian women must take their share of responsibility for these rapes," the professors said, because Muslims found their manner of dress provocative and "believe that it is women who are responsible for rape." This is a new height in multicultural insanity, and now this type of thinking seems to be influencing Norwegian law. An appeals court "acquitted a man for sexually assaulting a mentally handicapped woman on the grounds that he had only lived 12 years in Norway and so had difficulty understanding the victim's condition," Aftenposten reports. The victim suffers from Williams syndrome, a Downs syndrome-like disorder, one symptom of which is "overly friendly and polite behavior and a desire to contact strangers." (PBS has more on the syndrome.) The accused, a 22-year-old cab driver "originally from the Middle East," testified "that he found nothing odd about the woman's appearance or behavior" and "cab drivers often talked about easy sex offers from female passengers." The appeals court overturned his prison term of 60 days (!), but it did order him 'to pay the woman NOK 25,000 [$3,600] in damages and to replace her ruined coat.'" (See also: "Sex offense excused by inexperience" (Jonathan Tisdall, Aftenposten, 2003/01/22) and "Tolerating Intolerance: The Challenge of Fundamentalist Islam in Western Europe" (Bruce Bawer, Partisan Review, from the PR3/2002 issue). Also: Jacques Barzun "From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life" (2000))

"Jurors asked about beliefs at trial of imam" (Tania Branigan, The Guardian, 2003/01/22)
"A judge at the Old Bailey yesterday told Jewish and Hindu jurors he would excuse them from trying an imam accused of inciting the murder of non-Muslims.
Shaikh Abdullah el-Faisal, 38, of Stratford, east London, denies five counts of soliciting murder, two counts of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, and one count each of possessing and distributing threatening, abusive or insulting recordings. ...
Judge Peter Beaumont told the panel of 60 jurors that if they were called in the case and they or their spouses were Jewish or Hindu, they should inform him.
"For reasons that will be obvious when the prosecution explain what they set out to prove to the 12 people chosen to form the jury, if any of you whose names are called either adhere to the Jewish faith or the Hindu faith, or are married to persons who adhere to either faith, then could they put up their hand and come forward," he asked jurors."

"Rumsfeld Sorry for 'Axis of Weasels' Remark" (Scrapple Face, 2003/01/22)
Too good to be true: "U.S. Secretary Defense Donald Rumsfeld apologized today for referring to France and Germany as an "Axis of Weasels." "I'm sorry about that Axis of Weasels remark," said Mr. Rumsfeld. "I didn't mean to dredge up the history France and Germany share of pathetic compliance with ruthless dictators." The Defense Secretary said he was "way out of bounds" with the comments. "I should have known better than to remind people that these two nations - which live in freedom thanks only to the righteous might of America, Britain and their allies - that these nations are morally and politically bankrupt, and have failed to learn the lessons of history," he said."

"Bush Tired of Saddam's 'Bad Movie'" (Wendell Goler, Fox News, 2003/01/22)
"President Bush is running short on patience with Iraq, he told reporters Tuesday morning. "It appears to be a re-run of a bad movie," Bush said. "[Iraqi President Saddam Hussein] is delaying. He's deceiving. He's asking for time. He's playing hide-and-seek with inspectors. One thing is for certain — he's not disarming." ... "How much time do we need to see clearly that he's not disarming?" Bush asked. 'As I said, this looks like a re-run of a bad movie. And I'm not interested in watching it.'"

"French and German Leaders Jointly Oppose Iraqi War Moves" (John Tagliabue, The New York Times, 2003/01/22)
"In a blunt rejection of American impatience toward Baghdad, the leaders of France and Germany said today that they shared common views on Iraq, and that any Security Council resolution for military action would have to await the report of United Nations weapon inspectors. "War is always the admission of defeat and is always the worst of solutions," President Jacques Chirac of France said. "And hence everything must be done to avoid it." He added, 'France and Germany have a judgment on this crisis that is the same.'"

"Saddam's Chemical Victims Still Suffering in Iran" (Paul Hughes, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2003/01/22)
"Esmail Khoshnevisan spluttered like a drowning man, his body shaking violently as he vented his anger against the man who ruined his life. "Saddam Hussein is a criminal and deserves everything he gets... I want America to start the war against him as soon as possible with UN backing," he wheezed from his narrow hospital bed. A truck driver for Iran's Revolutionary Guards during the bitter 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, Khoshnevisan was ferrying wounded soldiers from the frontline in southwestern Khuzestan province when Iraqi planes attacked with mustard gas. "It had the smell of chocolate and hay. We didn't have masks. My eyes closed up and started to sting," he rasped as a medic inserted a plastic tube carrying oxygen into his nostrils. Eighteen years later, Khoshnevisan, now 65, has chronic breathing problems and can barely speak two words at a time. His eyes permanently brim with fluid. His gums have disintegrated, leaving him toothless. He has been in and out of hospitals for the last decade as his symptoms steadily worsened. Doctors said practically all his lung tissue had been eaten away by the poisonous gas. ...
About 1 million people were killed in one of the most brutal conflicts of the 20th century. Iran estimates that around 100,000 people were affected by nerve and mustard gases used by the Iraqis during the conflict and that around one in 10 died before receiving any treatment."

"A Tyrants Club" (Claudia Rosett, The Wall Street Journal, 2003/01/22)
Rosett on a Human Rights Commission headed by Libya: "Putting Libya in a spot to set the U.N. agenda on human rights is not simply a defeat of justice and human dignity. It is a betrayal. It is a betrayal of all those brave souls, world-wide, who don't just talk about human rights but put their lives on the line to fight for them in countries where the price can be prison, exile or death. ... In the secret balloting among the 53 nations that currently sit on the Human Rights Commission, only three - the U.S., Canada and, reportedly, Guatemala - voted against Libya. Among the 33 governments that voted in favor of Libya were almost certainly the rulers of such civic sinkholes as Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Cuba and Zimbabwe. Like the despots in Syria, Vietnam and China, these are folks who do not have the guts to face a genuine system of democracy back home, They wield their votes at the U.N. not as legitimate representatives of their own fellow citizens, but as two-faced members of the global club of tyrants, who hold sway through force and fear." (See also a list of all members: "Membership of the Commission on Human Rights" (Office for the Commission on Human Rights, 2003))

"Marching With Stalinists" (Michael Kelly, The Washington Post, 2003/01/22)
Kelly on the "peace rallies" last weekend and the left: "The debate is over. The left has hardened itself around the core value of a furious, permanent, reactionary opposition to the devil-state America, which stands as the paramount evil of the world and the paramount threat to the world, and whose aims must be thwarted even at the cost of supporting fascists and tyrants. ...
The left marches with the Stalinists. The left marches with those who would maintain in power the leading oppressors of humanity in the world. It marches with, stands with and cheers on people like the speaker at the Washington rally who declared that "the real terrorists have always been the United Snakes of America." It marches with people like the former Black Panther Charles Baron, who said in Washington, 'if you're looking for an axis of evil then look in the belly of this beast.'" (See also: "Marches in World Capitals Oppose Iraq War" (AP/ABC News, 2003/01/18))

"Waiting for war, Paris . . . or Godot" (Tony Blankley, The Washington Times, 2003/01/22)
"While Saddam is playing his same old games which fool no one, and while hundreds of thousands of American and British troops deploy to the impending war zone, the U. N. and its European allies blissfully prepare to intentionally let Saddam get away with it. We call them our European cousins — but I demand a DNA test. They must be pod people."

"Novak's Malice" (Andrea Levin, The Jerusalem Post, 2003/01/22)
Levin on the columnist and commentator Robert Novak, who can't "imagine... anybody worse than Sharon": "Indeed, there is virtually no scenario in which Israel is not blamed and vilified - and no sworn enemy of Israel Novak doesn't favor. In November 2001, in the wake of a wave of terrorism against Israelis in discos, pizza parlors and buses, CNN's Capital Gang discussed American policy toward the region. Novak assailed Israel's "audacity" in targeting a Hamas terrorist, demanding to know whether America would "take this conduct by Israel lying down." When his fellow commentators said the Israeli action was taken in "self-defense," he mocked the notion and replied he could not "imagine... anybody worse than Sharon" and "the idea that he's a good guy is just part of the propaganda." When Novak's colleagues further interjected that the Hamas official was "himself a terrorist," he retorted, 'Well, why do you call him a terrorist? I mean, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.'"

"Rape in Islam: Blaming the Victim" (Robert Spencer, FrontPageMagazine, 2003/01/22)
Spencer notes that Edward Said dismisses criticism of human rights and women's rights in the Arab world as "vague re-cycled Orientalist clichés": "Yet just as Said’s lament appeared, the French businesswoman Touria Tiouli went to court in the United Arab Emirates. Heedlessly risking the recycling of vague Orientalist clichés, Dubai officials have turned her charge that she was raped by three men on its head and accused her of zina, sexual activity outside marriage. In Dubai, a bastion of moderate Islam, this charge isn’t punishable by stoning, as it is in more hard-line Muslim countries — it only carries an 18-month jail sentence. ...
For Sharia courts all over the Islamic world seem only too willing to reinforce the stereotypes of Islam that Said deplores, particularly where women are concerned. ...
Traditional Islamic law, which is still very much in force in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, Sudan, most (if not all) of post-Taliban Afghanistan, and elsewhere, completely disregards the testimony of women in cases of a sexual nature. Aside from physical evidence, the only way to establish rape is by the testimony of four male witnesses (who, by the way, must be Muslims in good standing) who actually saw the act itself. Without these witnesses and a confession from the accused rapist, the victim will stand condemned by her very accusation: she wasn't raped, so she must be guilty of zina." (See also: "An unacceptable helplessness" (Edward Said, Al-Ahram Weekly, from the 16 - 22 January 2003 issue) and "French 'rape victim' faces jail for adultery" (Jon Henley, The Guardian, 2003/01/04))

"The Problem Of Muslim Anti-Semitism" (Irfan Khawaja, Pakistan Today/FrontPageMagazine, 2003/01/22)
"A second source of Arab/Muslim anti-Semitism is a skewed understanding of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Far too many Arabs and Muslims grow up with the belief that God commands them to side with the Palestinians against the Israelis in that conflict. Thus without bothering to acquaint themselves with facts or context, such people come to believe that the history of the dispute consists of nothing but Israeli atrocities against Arabs. In this view of things, the Arabs are nothing but victims, and the Israelis nothing but aggressors; the Arabs are responsible for nothing, and the Israelis are responsible for everything. From such a view, it's easy enough to slide into conspiracy theorizing, and from there to the belief that the Jews are a corrupt and diabolical race, while the Arabs are a noble and pure one. Unfortunately, this view of history has less to do with the pursuit of Palestinian rights than it does with role-playing, and does no one any real good, much less the Palestinians."

"Germany rules out Iraq war support" (BBC News, 2003/01/22)
"Germany has declared it will not back a UN resolution authorising war against Iraq, adding its concerns to mounting reservations within the Security Council about military action. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder made his remarks at a public meeting of his SPD party, shortly after US President George Bush told Iraq that time was running out. There has been rising resistance to war from France - a permanent member of the UN Security Council - and other allies, many of whom want UN weapons inspectors in Iraq to have more time to do their work." (See also: "France Vows to Block Resolution on Iraq War" (Glenn Kessler and Colum Lynch, The Washington Post, 2003/01/21))

Note: Watch is more influential than Andrew Sullivan! Well, if not in actual reality, at least according to Memeufacture's Top 10 list of the "Most Influential" blogs on the "Political (Right)", where it's currently at 7:th place, with Sullivan on 8:th. The Corner is No. 1. The list seems to be partly based on "first mentions" of articles - which I guess is a working criteria, although I don't care in the least for being "first" with anything. As for "Political (Right)", I guess that's OK as well, although I don't consider myself that way, but rather as a centrist of sorts.

Tuesday, January 21, 2003

News and commentary:

"Security Council Sells Out" (Thomas W. Murphy, USA in Review, 2003/01/21)
"Since 1996, Russia has ranked first among nations doing business with Iraq under the oil-for-food program with sales exceeding $4 billion, and Russia still hopes to collect the $12 billion in cold-war-era debt owed by Iraq. ... On December 8, 2002, Iraq sent both Russia and France a message when it cancelled the $4 billion contract with Russia's Lukoil to develop the West Qurna oil field. French oil firms, fearing they were next, began pressuring the French government to force the U.N. to resolve the Iraq crisis peacefully and Total Fina Elf demanded assurances its oil contacts in Iraq will be protected in the face of a possible U.S. attack. ...
On January 16, in direct contradiction of Blix's statements, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister met with the Iraqi government and praised "the positive spirit of cooperation from Iraq" on the weapons inspections. On January 17, the Russian oil company Lukoil "miraculously" announced that it had "persuaded" Baghdad to reverse the decision made on December 8th to cancel the contract with Lukoil to develop the giant West Qurna oil field. ...
What an amazing coincidence; Russia starts praising Iraqi compliance and criticizing any potential U.S. military action and the next day Iraq reverses its cancellation of the Lukoil contract and awards Russian firms additional contracts that could be worth up to $40 billion. Critics of possible U.S. military action against Iraq say its all about oil. They are partially right; they just got the "U.S. part" wrong. Its about Moscow and Paris wanting to protect their oil interests in Iraq."

"PA tourney named for Seder eve suicide terrorist" (PMW/IMRA, 2003/01/21)
Palestinian sports 2003: "A Palestinian soccer tournament held at a school has been named after the suicide bomber who attacked a Netanya hotel last Passover Eve, the official Palestinian Authority daily Al Hayat Al Jadida reports. All seven school teams participating in the tournament are named after other "Shahids"[those who died for Allah]. ... "the Tulkarm Shahids Memorial soccer championship tournament of the Shahid Abd Al-Baset Odeh (the suicide bomber who attacked a Netanya hotel last Passover Eve), began with the participation of seven top teams, named after Shahids who gave their lives to redeem the Homeland. Isam, the brother of the Shahid [of the Passover eve Massacre], will distribute the trophies." ... (Sports pages of the official PA daily newspaper Al Hayat Al Jadida Jan 21, 2003)."

"Chew on this" (Christopher Hitchens, The Stranger, from the 2003/01/16-22 issue)
"If the counsel of the peaceniks had been followed, Kuwait would today be the 19th province of Iraq (and based on his own recently produced evidence, Saddam Hussein would have acquired nuclear weapons). Moreover, Bosnia would be a trampled and cleansed province of Greater Serbia, Kosovo would have been emptied of most of its inhabitants, and the Taliban would still be in power in Afghanistan. Yet nothing seems to disturb the contented air of moral superiority that surrounds those who intone the "peace movement." ...
The United States is now at war with the forces of reaction, and nobody is entitled to view this battle as a spectator. The Union under Lincoln wasn't wholeheartedly against slavery. The USA under Roosevelt had its own selfish agenda even while combating Hitler and Hirohito. The hot-and-cold war against Stalinism wasn't exactly free of blemish and stain. How much this latest crisis turns into an even tougher war with reaction, at home or abroad, could depend partly upon those who currently think that it is either possible or desirable to remain neutral. I say "could," even though the chance has already been shamefully missed. But a mere potluck abstention will be remembered only with pity and scorn."

"Bin Laden Used Ruse to Flee" (Peter Finn, The Washington Post, 2003/01/21)
"With U.S. forces closing in on him during the battle of Tora Bora in late 2001, Osama bin Laden employed a simple feint against sophisticated U.S. spy technology to vanish into the mountains that led to Pakistan and sanctuary, according to senior Moroccan officials. A Moroccan who was one of bin Laden's longtime bodyguards took possession of the al Qaeda leader's satellite phone on the assumption that U.S. intelligence agencies were monitoring it to get a fix on their position, said the officials, who have interviewed the bodyguard, Abdallah Tabarak. Tabarak moved away from bin Laden and his entourage as they fled; he continued to use the phone in an effort to divert the Americans and allow bin Laden to escape. Tabarak was captured at Tora Bora in possession of the phone, officials said. ...
More than a year later, Tabarak, 43, has established himself as the "emir" or camp leader of the more than 600 suspected al Qaeda and Taliban members being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to senior officials here who have visited the military compound twice to interview Moroccan citizens."

"Two Americans shot in Kuwait" (BBC News, 2003/01/21)
"A US national has been shot dead and another wounded in Kuwait, local officials say. The victims - both men - were civilian contractors working for the US military in Kuwait, John Moran, a spokesman for the US Embassy, told the Associated Press news agency. Reports say the shooting happened as the men were inside their vehicle on Highway 85 near the Camp Doha military base north of Kuwait City."

"Libya elected to head UN rights body" (Richard Beeston, The Times, 2003/01/21)
"The credibility of the United Nations Human Rights Commission was thrown into question yesterday after Libya secured its chairmanship. Amid angry scenes at the commission’s headquarters in Geneva, Libya pulled off a diplomatic coup when Najat al-Hajjaji, its envoy, was voted the chairman by 33 out of the 53 states on the commission. The United States, Canada and Guatemala voted against Libya in the secret ballot. Seventeen countries, including Britain and most of the other Western nations, abstained. All the African, Asian and Arab states on the body are thought to have voted for Libya."

"France Vows to Block Resolution on Iraq War" (Glenn Kessler and Colum Lynch, The Washington Post, 2003/01/21)
"France suggested today it would wage a major diplomatic fight, including possible use of its veto power, to prevent the U.N. Security Council from passing a resolution authorizing military action against Iraq. ... But in a diplomatic version of an ambush, France and other countries used a high-level Security Council meeting on terrorism to lay down their markers for the debate that will commence next week on the inspectors' report. Russia and China, which have veto power, and Germany, which will chair the Security Council in February, also signaled today they were willing to let the inspections continue for months."

Note: I noticed that Mark Humphry refers to Celebrity Watch on his page about The Modern Left. Humphry's Political pages - "Pro-free private life: Atheist. Pro-science. Pro-reason. Pro-free speech. Pro-liberal democracy. Pro-free economic life: Pro-capitalist. Pro-West." - are very useful, with lots of info and interesting links.

Monday, January 20, 2003

News and commentary:

"Ritter's attorney confirms arrest" (Lindsay Cohen, MSNBC, 2003/01/20)
As Charles Johnson points out, this might be a "possible explanation for Ritter’s 180-degree change of opinion on Iraq: what if he’s being blackmailed?": "Scott Ritter of Delmar is well known internationally as an outspoken, former U.N. weapons inspector. Now more information is coming to light about Ritter's past and a disturbing arrest. His attorney confirms he was arrested in 2001, but neither she nor police will discuss the details. ... The Daily Gazette first reported over the weekend that Ritter - whose full name is William Scott Ritter Jr. - was arrested in June 2001. The New York Daily News further reported that Ritter's arrest was part of an Internet sting. The report said he was arrested for having sexual discussions over the Internet with a person he thought was an underage girl. This individual turned out to be an undercover police officer. ... However, NewsChannel 13 reported in June 2001 about an arrest of a 39-year-old William Ritter of Delmar on charges he tried to lure a 16-year-old girl he met on the Internet to a Burger King in Menands. According to police, the intent of that meeting was so that she could watch him perform sexual acts on himself." (See also: "Ritter of Arabia" (Stephen F. Hayes, The Wall Street Journal, 2002/09/21))

"Britain to Send Thousands of Land Troops to Gulf" (Mike Peacock, Reuters, 2003/01/20)
"Britain dramatically beefed up its military force heading for the Gulf on Monday, readying 30,000 troops and support personnel for a possible war against Iraq. The call-up far exceeded expectations. Defense officials said the mobilization compared with around 43,000 who took part in the 1991 Gulf War, launched after Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait."

"Police Raid British Mosque in Ricin Probe" (Andrew Cawthorne, Reuters, 2003/01/20)
More on the Mosque raid: "The mosque is the base of one of Britain's most outspoken Muslim clerics, Abu Hamza al-Masri, who won notoriety for praising Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, which Washington blames for the September 11 attacks. Egyptian-born Masri, who has one eye and wears a hook where a hand was blown off by a land mine, was not arrested. He told Reuters the raid was a "barbaric desecration of our mosque," part of an unfair wider "war on Muslims." It was a knee-jerk reaction to week's killing of a policeman in an anti-terror raid in northern England, said Masri. Masri, leader of a group called Supporters of Sharia (Islamic law), said two of the seven men held were security staff and five volunteers who did tasks like cleaning."

"In San Francisco: Theatrical Bush hate" (Gary Kamiya, Salon.com, 2003/01/20)
Kamiya on the "peace" rally in San Fransisco this weekend: "Extreme fear and loathing of Bush was a common theme of the day's signs, banners, T-shirts, speeches and conversations. "Dear Florida, thanks for the war - Love, SF," read one sign. Other expressions of distaste ranged from the time-honored sign "Regime Change Begins at Home" to "Emperor Bush - You Do Not Represent Me" to "Georgy Porgy Pudding and Pie/Bombing the People and Making Them Die" to "End Bush's Evil Regime" to "George Bush: Weapon of Mass Destruction" to "Born to Kill, Born to Drill" (accompanied by a photo of Bush as Rambo) to the somewhat crude but undeniably straightforward "Bullying Unilateralist Shithead." ...
Considerable creative energy went into some attacks on the president. One large one read "Stop the Fourth Reich - Visualize Nuremberg/ Iraq." On the other side were rows of doctored photos of all the top-ranking Bush administration officials wearing Nazi uniforms and officers' caps, each with an identifying caption. Bush was identified as "The Angry Puppet" and Mind-controlled Slave/ 'Pro-life' Executioner." Cheney: "The Fuhrer, Already in His Bunker." Powell: "House Negro - Fakes Left, Moves Right." Rice: "Will Kill Africans for Oil." Ashcroft: "Faith-based fascist, sexless sadist." "Field Marshall Rummy," "Chickenhawk Wolfowitz - Jews for Genocide," and "Minister of Dis-info - Ari Goebbels" rounded out the field."

"The Anti-Warriors" (Daniel J. Flynn, National Review, 2003/01/20)
Who's obsessed with what? Flynn on Anti-Warriors in Washington, D.C this weekend: "Reesa Rosenberg, a Muslim from New Jersey, came to the nation's capital bearing a sign that read "Bush Is the Real Terrorist." "When it comes down to it, it's all for oil and global domination," she believes. "It's almost like Hitler." Rosenberg contends that people in the U.S. government had advance knowledge of the 9/11 attacks. "Another thing about 9/11 — the United States is like a stuck-up little bitch. They just do and take all of what they please. I mean, 9/11 was terrible, but it was the first terrorist attack on this country. It's like, 'oh, no!' Somebody broke the United States' nail, now the whole earth is going to blow up." ...
Bush "definitely knew in advance," remarked John Bostrom, who traveled to the march from Staten Island. "It was like when Hitler burned down the Reichstag." Why would the Bush administration refuse to act on its prior knowledge of the terrorist attacks? "What they want to do, basically, is build a worldwide planetary death machine that's technology driven, computer run, and hooked up to satellites that cover every square inch of the globe, and allows them to target and eliminate anything they want to wherever they want to," maintained Bostrom. 'This is their plan. It's black and white. That's what they've been calling for. That's their strategy and they're obsessed by it.'" (See also: "Marches in World Capitals Oppose Iraq War" (AP/ABC News, 2003/01/18))

"Officials Destroy Tapes and CD's in Pakistani Province" (AP/The New York Times, 2003/01/20)
"Officials in a deeply conservative Pakistani province destroyed audio and video tapes and compact discs today as part of a campaign to wipe out material the authorities deem obscene. In front of a crowd of more than 1,000 people, officials doused gasoline on the materials piled up in a bazaar in Peshawar. The police chief, Tanveer ul-Haq Sipra, then set the pile on fire. "We are determined to fulfill our promises about Islamization and cleaning up society," said Maulana Haji Ihsan ul-Haq, general-secretary of the Muthida Majlis-e-Amal, or United Action Forum. ... The burned material included English-language, Indian and Pashtun films, as well as pornographic films and films of Turkish dancing."

"Anti-terror police raid London mosque" (BBC News, 2003/01/20)
"Seven men have been arrested after 150 police took part in an anti-terrorism raid on Finsbury Park mosque in north London.
Scotland Yard said the raid was intelligence-led and linked to investigations into the discovery of the deadly poison ricin in a flat in nearby Wood Green earlier this month. Streets were sealed off for half a mile around the scene while two helicopters trained spotlights on the mosque and two neighbouring three-storey houses, which were also raided. Scotland Yard said all of the men were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 and include six north Africans and one eastern European between the ages of 22 and 48."

See the archive for earlier news and commentary.

 

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"When people accept futility and the absurd as normal, the culture is decadent. The term is not a slur; it is a technical label."

Jacques Barzun

Articles of the week

"Losing the Enlightenment" (Victor Davis Hanson, OpinionJournal, 2006/11/29)

"Allah’s England?" (Daniel Johnson, Commentary. November 2006)

"'Sex in the Park': The latest doings of the Danish imams" (Henrik Bering, The Weekly Standard, 2006/11/18)

"Narcissism on Stilts" (Harold Evans, New York Sun, 2006/11/16)

"Terrorists are recruiting in our schools, says MI5 boss" (Philip Johnston, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/11/10)

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From the archives

Oriana Fallaci, R.I.P.

"The Rage, the Pride and the Doubt" (Oriana Fallaci, The Wall Street Journal, 2003/03/13)

"How the West Was Won and How It Will Be Lost" (Oriana Fallaci, The American Enterprise, from the January/February 2003 issue)

"On Jew-hatred in Europe" (Oriana Fallaci, dennisprager.com, 2002/04/13)

"Anger and Pride" (Oriana Fallaci, dennisprager.com, 2001/12/19)

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