Archived news and commentary: May 19 - 25, 2003

2003/06/23 - 2003/06/29
2003/06/16 - 2003/06/22
2003/06/09 - 2003/06/15
2003/06/02 - 2003/06/08
2003/05/26 - 2003/06/01
2003/05/19 - 2003/05/25
2003/05/12 - 2003/05/18
2003/05/05 - 2003/05/11
2003/04/28 - 2003/05/04
2003/04/21 - 2003/04/27
2003/04/14 - 2003/04/20
2003/04/07 - 2003/04/13
2003/03/31 - 2003/04/06

Sunday, May 25, 2003

News and commentary:

"The Sum of Two Evils" (Brian Bennett and Michael Weisskopf, TIME, 2003/05/25)
A must-read article on Saddam's sons - Qusay and Uday: "A chef at Baghdad's exclusive Hunting Club recalls a wedding party that Uday crashed in the late 1990s. After Uday left the hall, the bride, a beautiful woman from a prominent family, went missing. "The bodyguards closed all the doors, didn't let anybody out," the chef remembers. "Women were yelling and crying, 'What happened to her?'" The groom knew. "He took a pistol and shot himself," says the chef, placing his forefinger under his chin.
Last October another bride, 18, was dragged, resisting, into a guardhouse on one of Uday's properties, according to a maid who worked there. The maid says she saw a guard rip off the woman's white wedding dress and lock her, crying, in a bathroom. After Uday arrived, the maid heard screaming. Later she was called to clean up. The body of the woman was carried out in a military blanket, she said. There were acid burns on her left shoulder and the left side of her face. The maid found bloodstains on Uday's mattress and clumps of black hair and peeled flesh in the bedroom. A guard told her, 'Don't say anything about what you see, or you and your family will be finished.'"

"Wisdom of Classics: Knowledge Keeps The Sirens at Bay" (Victor Davis Hanson, TimesDispatch.com, 2003/05/25)
Victor Davis Hanson's commencement address at St. John's College in Annapolis last May will surely become a classic in itself: "Out of that learning you have also acquired a method of inquiry - in addition to such a majestic body of knowledge: observe, question, compare, and conclude - always oblivious to whether your answers make you among the hated or loved, or more likely rarely even noticed. Like Euripides, you are hunters of beauty, which Socrates reminds us is really The Good and The True - what the Greeks call aletheia - "that which cannot be forgotten." You, like Thucydides, are skeptical of those who would change language to mask a reality that cannot really be masked. ...
You must not, out of some misguided sense of exalted erudition, allow your gift of learning to remain on the shelf, your life's wisdom kept as rarely turned pages between forbidding leather covers - at times to be brought down from on high to nuance this or that footnote, embarrass the less learned, or bolster the pedant.
Remember instead Danton - "audacity, always audacity, still more audacity." Rapier-like, cut through the cant and fad of the majority. Seek out the like-minded whom you will instantly recognize by their shared desire to plunge in and take on the world - thus earning, at least in your lifetime, the world's obvious dislike and even anger at your obtrusive presence."

"The farmer" (Laura Secor, The Boston Globe, 2003/05/25)
A profile of Victor Davis Hanson: "These are confusing times, and Hanson wields a few simple ideas with blunt force. Western culture, in his view, emanates from ancient Greece and prizes consensual government, private markets, self-criticism, and rational inquiry. Where such values are found, political, economic, and military preeminence follow. The non-Western world lags behind the West because it does not share in the Greek cultural legacy, having opted instead for despotism, theocracy, illiberal markets, and the plain old laziness that has men whiling away afternoons playing backgammon in the cafes of the Middle East. ...
If the course of history is so clearly visible, today's foreign policy, in Hanson's view, is a no-brainer: Terrorism can be crushed by the same military means that defeated Japan and Germany in World War II. To oppose that strategy is lunacy or cowardice. And the entire Muslim world, he has written in The National Review Online, can be viewed as a single bloc, no more variegated than the Soviet-controlled Warsaw Pact." (Note: Thanks to Barry Kaplovitz for the pointer.)

"Women may be terror suicide bombers, Muslim scholar rules" (Khaled Abu Toameh, The Jerusalem Post, 2003/05/25)
A leading scholar of the Religion of Peace says that female suicide bombers constitute "one of the most praised acts of worship": "One of the leading Muslim scholars has issued a fatwa permitting women to carry out suicide attacks.
Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian who serves as the dean of Islamic Studies at the University of Qatar, issued his ruling in response to last week's bombing in Afula, which was carried out by 19-year-old Hiba Daraghmeh, a female student from Tubas in the northern West Bank.
"Women's participation in the martyrdom [suicide] operations carried out in Palestine given the status of the land as an occupied territory, in addition to a lot of sacrilegious acts perpetrated by the Jews against the sanctuaries is one of the most praised acts of worship," Qaradawi said."

"Assad Doubts Existence of al-Qaida" (AP/Yahoo! News, 2003/05/25)
Wait a minute. Perhaps reality as such doesn't exist?: "Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview published Sunday that he doubts the existence of al-Qaida, the terror group blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks and recent strikes in Saudi Arabia and Morocco.
"Is there really an entity called al-Qaida? Was it in Afghanistan? Does it exist now?" Assad asked, according to the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anba.
Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born Islamic extremist who heads al-Qaida, "cannot talk on the phone or use the Internet, but he can direct communications to the four corners of the world?" Assad said. "This is illogical."
Such speculation is popular among some in the Arab world who say Washington has manufactured or exaggerated the threat posed by al-Qaida in order to paint Muslims as dangerous."

"Israeli Cabinet Approves Landmark Peace 'Road Map'" (Jeffrey Heller, Reuters, 2003/05/25)
"Prime Minister Ariel Sharon won cabinet approval Sunday for a U.S.-backed "road map" for peace in a breakthrough that formally committed Israel for the first time to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The decision was accompanied by reaffirmation of Israeli reservations about the plan, which the United States has said would be addressed as it was being implemented, and rejection of any right for Palestinian refugees to return to Israel.
But the stage was set for initial steps to end 32 months of bloodshed and a possible Israeli-Palestinian summit attended by President Bush, who had pushed Sharon to accept the most ambitious Middle East peace plan in two years."

"The colonel's mistake was to be decisive, humane and charismatic" (Kevin Myers, The Sunday Telegraph, 2003/05/25)
Myers on the Colonel Collins case: "'War crime,' intoned half a dozen newspapers. "War crime," agreed the Press Association and Reuters. "Special Investigation Branch investigates," everyone announced. Well, what's been going on? Prisoners being bumped off, children machine-gunned, hospital ships sunk?
At worst, at the very worst, a Ba'athist thug was hit over the head with a pistol, and kicked in the bottom, by a British Army officer, Lt Col Tim Collins of the Royal Irish Regiment. A few shots were fired - one into a carpet and, in an unrelated incident, a couple into a looter's car-tyres. That's it. Yet this term "war crime" is everywhere, as if the Third Reich were back in town, though nobody's dead, and a thorough search of the scene of crime reveals a) one carpet with one hole (taken away for SIB examination) and b) one Ba'athist official with a slightly sore head." (See also: "Colonel's accuser is hate figure at home" (Anthony Browne, The Times, 2003/05/24) and "Col. Tim probed on war crimes" (John Kay, The Sun, 2003/05/21))

"Saddam's killing fields give up their gruesome secrets" (Ed Vulliamy, The Observer, 2003/05/25)
"The silence and afternoon heat in the school gymnasium at Musayyib is broken by a sudden wail of grief beyond consolation. Nuria Jasen Shana has found her son at last.
The quiet had been that of death: the gym is filled with some 200 reassembled and partly clothed skeletons, wrapped in white cloth sheeting, from what was yesterday emerging as potentially one of the biggest and most gruesome mass grave sites of victims slaughtered by the regime of Saddam Hussein."

"Terror cell's UK poison plot" (Jason Burke, The Observer, 2003/05/25)
"Chilling details about the existence of a group of extremist Islamic militants, set on executing attacks on civilians in Britain, are revealed in intelligence documents obtained by The Observer.
The cell, comprising at least six individuals and based in London and Luton, is part of the 'al-Tauhid group'. The group is independent of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organisation, but follow a similar hardline agenda and has been blamed for a series of attacks and plots over the last three years.
According to German intelligence documents, it is believed that members of the group, comprised predominantly of Jordanian and Palestinian Islamic militants, have plotted to use poison in the UK and elsewhere."

"U.S. Eyes Pressing Uprising In Iran" (Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post, 2003/05/25)
"The Bush administration, alarmed by intelligence suggesting that al Qaeda operatives in Iran had a role in the May 12 suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia, has suspended once-promising contacts with Iran and appears ready to embrace an aggressive policy of trying to destabilize the Iranian government, administration officials said.
Senior Bush administration officials will meet Tuesday at the White House to discuss the evolving strategy toward the Islamic republic, with Pentagon officials pressing hard for public and private actions that they believe could lead to the toppling of the government through a popular uprising, officials said."

Saturday, May 24, 2003

News and commentary:

"Colonel's accuser is hate figure at home" (Anthony Browne, The Times, 2003/05/24)
A hero as war criminal and a war criminal as witness. It reminds me yet again of Jacques Barzun's identification of absurdity as an indication of cultural decadence, in his magnificent "From Dawn to Decadence": "In Britain his claims have caused a storm of controversy about one of the country's most admired colonels. But in his home village, Ayoub Yousif Naser is a hated figure, accused of corruption and helping to send innocent people to jail.
Mr Naser, a former headmaster, yesterday re-enacted claims of how he was shot at and hit by Colonel Tim Collins. But the villagers want him, not the British troops, to leave. They prefer life under British rule to that under the Baath party, to which Mr Naser belonged. ...
After three decades of being oppressed by the Baath party, the villagers are visibly gloating at the tables being turned. Last week Mr Naser was sacked as part of the nationwide purge of Baathists. ...
Whatever the Government concludes in its investigation of his accusation against Colonel Collins, the villagers are clearly glad that the British troops are there. "The British troops are very friendly," Aqeel said.
I asked the gathered crowds if life was better now, and they all nodded vigorously. "Absolutely, life is better now. Even with no work, life is better," Mr Ismael said." (See also: "Col. Tim probed on war crimes" (John Kay, The Sun, 2003/05/21) and "Rimbaud meets Rambo on the eve of battle" (Ben Macintyre, The Times, 2003/03/22))

"Intelligence team finds French passports in Iraq" (Bill Gertz, The Washington Times, 2003/05/24)
"A U.S. military intelligence team in Iraq has uncovered a dozen French passports, and defense officials believe other French passports from the same batch were used by Iraqis to flee the country.
Defense officials are still investigating whether the passports were provided covertly by the French government, or were stolen or forged by Saddam Hussein's regime, said defense officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity."

"Telegraph man is first British reporter inside Camp Delta" (David Rennie, The Daily Telegraph, 2003/05/24)
Yes, prisons tend to reduce the world to a cell: "It is not horror that crushes your spirits when you enter the cells at Camp Delta. Instead, it is an absolute sense of defeat, of being hopelessly caught in a great steel machine, remorseless in its efficiency and patience.
Just a moment inside a maximum security cell - newly vacated for repairs - is enough to bring on despair. The hundreds of terrorist suspects brought to Camp Delta, on its scrubby hillside at the eastern tip of Cuba, were men seething with dreams, fuelled by visions of conquest and hate.
Camp Delta, newly built to replace the temporary facility of Camp X-Ray, is designed to smother such dreams, reducing the world to a steel cage, 8ft by 6ft 8in.
It is not a place of visible humiliation or cruelty. Some of its key facilities, from medical care to the food, are exactly the same as those provided to the guard force of US military police.
The call to prayer is piped through the cells five times a day, and each inmate has a copy of the Koran, prayer beads and holy oil.
But from the Stars and Stripes flags nailed to the camp's watchtowers, to the female troops who help patrol its cell blocks (outraging many inmates), it is intended to assert the final victory of the United States." (See also: "X-Ray Photographs" - News and commentary on the treatment of the prisoners at Camp X-Ray.)

"European allies refuse to cut ties with Arafat" (Nicholas Kralev, The Washington Times, 2003/005/24)
"America's European allies yesterday rejected a call from Secretary of State Colin L. Powell to sever ties with Yasser Arafat, the beleaguered Palestinian leader, even as U.S. officials accused him of "undercutting" his new prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas. ...
A senior U.S. official later told reporters on Mr. Powell's plane that the "strong message" of the French minister would contain a push for Mr. Arafat to provide more support to Mr. Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, and his new post.
"We have seen evidence that [Mr. Arafat] is undercutting [Mr. Abbas]," the official said. "It's time for him to realize that he has to use his influence with the Palestinian people to support Mr. Abbas."
The official noted that Mr. Abbas' press conference with Mr. Powell in the West Bank town of Jericho earlier this month was not broadcast on Palestinian television, which is controlled by Mr. Arafat." (See also: "Sharon to boycott French FM, who will meet Arafat" (Aluf Benn, Ha'aretz, 2003/05/23))

Friday, May 23, 2003

News and commentary:

"After Iraq, The Left Has A New Agenda: Contain America" (Jonathan Rauch, National Journal, 2003/05/23)
"In the rush to notice neocons, however, another transformation has been overlooked. A new kind of leftist agenda has emerged from 9/11 and Iraq, one that both mirrors and inverts neoconservatism, and one whose implications seem just as profound.
To understand "neoleftism" (as I might as well call it), consider an ostensibly odd fact: Many neoleftists saw not failure for their side in the fight against the Iraq war, but success.
Success? Even though the Left's street demonstrations around the world failed to stop the war? Even though the quick victory and Iraqi celebrations seemed to vindicate neocons' predictions? Well, yes. Here is how The Nation, which is to the neoleftists something like what Commentary once was to the neocons, put it in an April 7 editorial:
"If we are present at the creation of a new American empire, we are also present at the creation of another superpower - the largest, most broadly based peace and justice movement in history, a movement that has engaged millions of people here and around the globe." ...
Why is the Left suddenly unable to support or celebrate the downfall of a fascist tyrant? Because, just as neocons regard projecting American power as essential for making the world safer, neoleftists regard containing American power as essential for making the world safer. If containing America means tolerating or even supporting tyranny or terror in particular places - well, that is a price that must sometimes be paid." (See also: "Iraq and Beyond" (The Nation, from the 2003/04/07 issue))

"Middle East Tragedies" (Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 2003/05/23)
"We seek military action and democratic reform hand-in-glove to end Islamic rogue states and terrorist enclaves — not because such audacious measures are our first option (appeasement, neglect, and complicity in the past were preferable), but because they are the last. Go ahead and argue over the improbability of democracy in the Middle East. Reckon the horrendous costs and unending commitment. Cite the improper parallels with Germany and Japan until you are blue in the face. Stammer on that Baghdad will never be a New England town hall.
Maybe, maybe not. But at least consider the alternatives. ...
Turn the other cheek and say, "What's a few American volunteers killed in Lebanon or the Sudan when the stock market is booming and Starbucks is sprouting up everywhere?" Did that also, and we got 9/11.
Pour in money? Did that for a quarter-century; but I don't see that the street in Amman or Cairo is much appreciative about freebies, from tons of American wheat to Abrams tanks.
Get tough with Israel? Taking 39 scuds, pulling out of Lebanon, offering 97 percent of the West Bank, and putting up with Oslo got them the Intifada and female suicide bombers.
The fact is that the only alternative after September 11 was the messy, dirty, easily caricatured path that Mr. Bush has taken us down. For all the reoccurring troubles in Afghanistan, for all the looting and lawlessness in the month after the brilliant military victory in Iraq, and for all the recent explosions in restaurants, synagogues, and hotels — we are still making real progress."

"The road to a nuclear Iran" (Caroline B. Glick, The Jerusalem Post, 2003/05/23)
"If left to their own devices, with the enriched uranium produced by these centrifuges, by 2005 the Iranian government will be able to field several uranium-based nuclear weapons every year. The still uninspected heavy-water plant in Arak will presumably be capable of producing plutonium-based nuclear weapons. ...
As MK Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, notes, "The Iranian nuclear program is of course a strategic threat to Israel, but it is far from being only Israel's problem. The Iranians are now enhancing their ballistic missile capabilities to cover not only Israel but targets throughout Europe. A nuclear armed Iran, capable not only of bombing Israel, but of bombing Europe, will be a force of global instability and will significantly change the global balance of power." ...
The prime danger to US national security lies in Teheran. The key to the global Islamic terror nexus that stretches across the world is found in the dark allies of Teheran, not in the well lit streets of Jerusalem. Rather than pressuring an ally to reward Teheran's terrorist friends, the US should be using all its leverage throughout the world to prevent the ayatollahs from acquiring nuclear weapons." (See also: "Remember Khobar Towers" (Louis J. Freeh, The Wall Street Journal, 2003/05/20))

"Blood of Innocents - Doctors say Hussein, not UN sanctions, caused children's deaths" (Matthew McAllester, Newsday.com, 2003/05/23)
"Throughout the 13 years of UN sanctions on Iraq that were ended yesterday, Iraqi doctors told the world that the sanctions were the sole cause for the rocketing mortality rate among Iraqi children.
"It is one of the results of the embargo," Dr. Ghassam Rashid Al-Baya told Newsday on May 9, 2001, at Baghdad's Ibn Al-Baladi hospital, just after a dehydrated baby named Ali Hussein died on his treatment table. "This is a crime on Iraq."
It was a scene repeated in hundreds of newspaper articles by reporters required to be escorted by minders from Saddam Hussein's Ministry of Information.
Now free to speak, the doctors at two Baghdad hospitals, including Ibn Al-Baladi, tell a very different story. Along with parents of dead children, they said in interviews this week that Hussein turned the children's deaths into propaganda, notably by forcing hospitals to save babies' corpses to have them publicly paraded. ...
Under the sanctions regime, "We had the ability to get all the drugs we needed," said Ibn Al-Baladi's chief resident, Dr. Hussein Shihab. 'Instead of that, Saddam Hussein spent all the money on his military force and put all the fault on the USA. Yes, of course the sanctions hurt - but not too much, because we are a rich country and we have the ability to get everything we can by money. But instead, he spent it on his palaces.'"

"Iran admits holding al Qaeda operatives" (CNN.com, 2003/05/23)
"Iranian officials Thursday told a U.N. representative that Iran has several unnamed al Qaeda operatives in custody, CNN has learned.
The acknowledgment comes as Washington has intensified its accusations that al Qaeda terrorists are inside Iran -- something Tehran had previously denied.
U.S. officials said the key question is whether the al Qaeda operatives in custody are allowed to communicate and receive visitors.
One Bush administration official told CNN that Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. special representative for Afghanistan, met Thursday in Geneva with Iranian officials. It was during that meeting that Iran said it had several al Qaeda operatives in custody, the official said."

"Report: Saddam's Son Uday Thinking of Surrendering" (FOX News, 2003/05/23)
"Saddam Hussein's son Uday is considering surrendering to U.S. forces, but so far has been reluctant to do so because of a tough negotiating posture by the U.S. government, according to a third party with knowledge of the discussions, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Coalition forces in Iraq dismissed the report.
Uday Hussein, who is hiding in a Baghdad suburb, wants to know what the charges against him will be and the process for interrogation and custody, the source told the Journal.
U.S. officials don't seem especially interested in cutting a deal, because they assume Uday will be caught sooner or later, the source told the paper."

"Moroccans Say Al Qaeda Was Behind Casablanca Bombings" (Elaine Sciolino, The New York Times, 2003/05/23)
"The five suicide bombings in Casablanca last Friday night were masterminded and financed by Al Qaeda, according to Moroccan officials speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The officials said that more than $50,000 was transferred from a senior Qaeda operative living abroad to Morocco several months ago to underwrite the operation.
Investigators declined to identify the exact amount of the money or the person involved.
But the rest of the operation was purely Moroccan. Officials added that a small team of Moroccans who had been trained in Afghanistan were used as intermediaries to choose and train the operatives inside Morocco."

"Sharon to boycott French FM, who will meet Arafat" (Aluf Benn, Haaretz, 2003/05/23)
The Zombie Doctrine. According to this French diplomacy doctrine, not even history's worst tyrants and dictators are beyond the pale. After all, they are not zombies. It's very convenient when you want to do business with, say, Saddam, Mugabe or Assad, but don't want to feel too bad about it: "Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will not meet French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, who is arriving on Sunday, because of de Villepin's intention to meet Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
French Ambassador in Israel Jacques Hounziger told reporters yesterday: 'We're meeting Arafat because legally and politically he is still the leader, he is still the boss, and every day we see that. Arafat is not a zombie and not a demon, and there is no need for his demonization. We are not happy with certain aspects of his policy, but if we boycott every leader we criticize, we won't be able to work.'"

Added in archive:
"Democracy -- Whore, Judiciary --- Meaningless" (jk, varnam, 2003/05/18)
"Portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il..." (AFP/Shingo Ito, 2003/04/24)
"Sins of the Son" (Peter Carlson, Washington Post, 2003/05/11)

Thursday, May 22, 2003

News and commentary:

"So Long, Sanctions" (James Taranto, Best of the Web Today, 2003/05/22)
"Today's Times of London reports that "Tony Blair has ignored the Government's own legal advice that the British-American occupation of Iraq is in breach of international law, it was alleged last night." The allegation came in a cover story in The New Statesman, a left-wing magazine, according to which Britain's attorney general told Blair "that, without a specific UN mandate, attempts at postwar reconstruction would be unlawful."
Well, nice timing there, guys, coming out with this report right on the eve of the U.N. resolution that obviates it. Blair must be relieved too. Imagine if the cops got wind that he was violating international law and went to arrest him." (See also: "Blair 'ignored advice that occupation is illegal'" (Tom Baldwin, The Times, 2003/05/22) and "Blair was told it would be illegal to occupy Iraq" (John Kampfner , The New Statesman, from the 2003/05/26 issue))

"Syria instructs pro-Iraq vote" (Thanaa Imam, UPI, 2003/05/22)
The only Arab nation on the council was shamefully absent when the sanctions against Iraq were lifted by an otherwise unanimous body, as they presumably just couldn't stand voting for the United States, but rather turned their backs on their own neighbours, while at the same time pretending not to: "Syria said Thursday it instructed its delegate at the U.N. Security Council to record a "yes" vote for the resolution to end sanctions in Iraq, several hours after the 15-member panel unanimously endorsed the coalition-sponsored motion without the Arab state.
In a statement, Syria's Foreign Ministry said could not take part in the initial voting at the Security Council because "consultations over the content of the draft resolution were not completed."
The vote ended 13 years of sanctions, allowing for the immediate resumption of oil sales to finance rebuilding of the country and giving the United Nations a strong role in the process. It was delayed about 45 minutes however to await the arrival of a representative from Syria, the only Arab state on the 15-member panel. None showed up so the official vote was recorded as 14-0.
Syria's Deputy Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad said the Damascus government was meeting at the time of the council session and had requested additional time to reach a position. Syria similarly sat out a vote on a Middle East resolution March 30 of last year.
Then from Damascus came the later statement: 'Syria instructed its permanent delegate to record Syria's voting inside the Security Council.'"

"U.N. OKs U.S.-Led Administration of Iraq" (Edith M Lederer, AP/Yahoo! News, 2003/05/22)
"In a victory for the United States, the U.N. Security Council overwhelmingly approved a resolution Thursday empowering the United States and Britain to govern Iraq and use its oil wealth to rebuild the country.
The resolution passed by a 14-0 vote, with Syria — the only Arab nation on the council — absent.
John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador, said that after more than a decade of being frozen out of the world economy by sanctions against Saddam Hussein 's regime, "it is time for the Iraqi people to benefit from their natural resources," a reference to the country's vast oil wealth.
The near unanimous vote was a turnaround from the bitter acrimony that split the council before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. The resolution represented a compromise that was backed even by France, which still felt it gave the United States too much power in Iraq."

"Chirac to embarrass Bush at G8 conference" (Philip Delves Broughton and Pav Akhtar, The Daily Telegraph, 2003/05/22)
"President Chirac is preparing to embarrass President Bush at the forthcoming G8 summit in France by laying out an agenda heavy on environmental, development and economic issues and light on the fight against terrorism.
The summit at Evian on June 2 and June 3 will be the first time M Chirac and Mr Bush have met since their diplomatic war preceding military action in Iraq. However, M Chirac, as the host, is arranging the meeting on his terms.
He made clear yesterday that, despite the debacle over Iraq, he is clinging to his vision of a global balance of powers, with France as an alternative to America."

"Dowd spawns Bush media myth" (Brendan Nyhan, Spinsanity, 2003/05/22)
"An outrageous new falsehood is circulating about President Bush. Last week, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd misrepresented a Bush statement to imply that he said the Al Qaeda terrorist network is "not a problem anymore," and the distorted quotation has since been repeated by MSNBC "Buchanan and Press" co-host Bill Press, CNN's Miles O'Brien and others, including numerous foreign press outlets. At a time when the New York Times is under fire for its conduct in the Jayson Blair scandal, Dowd's creation of an exploding media myth is cause for serious concern.
In her May 14 column (which was reprinted in newspapers around the country), Dowd wrote the following:

Busy chasing off Saddam Hussein, the president and vice president had told us that Al Qaeda was spent. "Al Qaeda is on the run," President George W. Bush said last week. "That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly but surely being decimated," he added. "They're not a problem anymore."

But as Andrew Sullivan first pointed out on his website (and later in his Washington Times column), these quotes was taken wildly out of context from a May 5 speech in Arkansas in which Bush said this:

Al Qaeda is on the run. That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly but surely being decimated. Right now, about half of all the top Al Qaeda operatives are either jailed or dead. In either case, they're not a problem anymore.

Bush was obviously saying that the Al Qaeda operatives who "are either jailed or dead" are "not a problem anymore," not that Al Qaeda itself is 'not a problem.'" (See also: "Bush's Mideast strategy goes up in flames" (Maureen Dowd, The New York Times, 2003/05/15) and "President Visits Arkansas - Says Tax Relief is Needed Now" (The White House, 2003/05/05))

"Offside, 22 May" (Dulip Allirajah, spiked, 2003/05/22)
A brilliant article on the scrapping of "humiliating" competitive events such as egg-and-spoon races and three-legged races by schools, in the name of "inclusivity": "Perhaps they will follow the lead of Woolpit Primary School in Suffolk, whose sports days include non-competitive activities like jumping over a pole or crawling under chairs. Mind you, crawling under chairs is not as inclusive as it sounds. What if a fat kid gets stuck under a chair? Maybe sitting on the sofa gorging on chips and pizza should be elevated to the status of a sport, to include chubsters.
But then again this would exclude the anorexics. It's a minefield when you think about it. Actually, as I recall, the fatties excelled in the traditional playground game of 'bundle', but I suspect that bundling won't find its way into the non-competitive sports day roster.
Parents were understandably outraged by Maney Hill's decision. 'It is political correctness gone mad', declared Rob Busst, whose two sons attend the school. 'Children do not become scarred for life if they lose the egg-and-spoon race'. ...
The notion that political correctness has gone mad is a strange anthropomorphism. The implication being that political correctness was once a perfectly sane and reasonable chap who only concerned himself with sensible pursuits, such as hounding Nazis and kiddie fiddlers. But then he suffered a breakdown, perhaps triggered by a humiliating sporting experience, and now Mr PC is a twitching, bulgy-eyed loon who has started stalking innocuous targets such as egg-and-spoon races.
But in truth political correctness hasn't so much gone gaga as gone mainstream. The scrapping of competitive sports is the logical consequence of our therapeutic culture that assumes that children are vulnerable creatures whose self-esteem will be irreparably damaged by sporting failure."

"Why talk is useless" (Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun, 2003/05/22)
"There's no point trying to talk to terrorists who want to kill us for enjoying a drink in a bar. And still bleeding hearts say we should negotiate.
They were still picking lumps of human flesh from the bombed-out Spanish club in Casablanca, when an Age reader bleated that perhaps we should surrender to the killers. "Maybe we need to open a dialogue with them to find out why they are so hostile," he wrote to the editor. ...
After every atrocity it's been the same. Some academic, some Noam Chomsky, some Muslim apologist, some Bob Brown insists it is time we realised we might be the problem. That these Islamic terrorists might have a just cause. That we should negotiate. ...
So forget the experts who told us the Bali bombing was caused by Israel's occupation of Palestinian land. Or by our invasion of Afghanistan. Or by Western support for Arab dictators. Or whatever - because Islamic terrorism has been like a Rorschach blot of the Left: into every suicide bombing you can read your favourite cause, and demand your favourite solution, whether it is winding back American influence, curbing globalisation or destroying Israel.
When Amrozi himself explains he just wants Westerners "finished" for something as trivial as drinking in a bar on a Hindu island, or for being Jewish, then it's time to stop negotiating and start shooting."

"The suffering Palestinians" (Mona Charen, The Washington Times, 2003/05/22)
"Twelve refugee camps remain housing most of the 400,000 Palestinians who live in Lebanon. Lebanese law declares them to be stateless and, as such, forbidden to own land outside the refugee camps. ...
The Lebanese, or rather the Syrians, who invaded and control the country, certainly know that the Palestinians living in those camps will never "return" to Israel. So why keep them in such squalid conditions? As a breeding ground for terrorists, perhaps?
Following the Persian Gulf war in 1991, Kuwait simply clapped its hands and expelled up to 300,000 Palestinians. Why? Because Yasser Arafat had sided with Saddam Hussein in the war. The Palestinians had been integrated into Kuwaiti society, working at all kinds of jobs, from engineering to computer to menial work. Many had been born there. But the Kuwaiti royal family had no qualms about uprooting them. Ambassador Saud Nasir Sabah said, "They didn't represent a necessity to us." There was hardly a peep from the world community. Certainly there was no condemnation by the United Nations.
There is very little sincere concern around the world for the "plight" of the Palestinians. If there were, their situation in Arab countries would draw more attention. As it is, Palestinians are only useful as a club with which to beat Israel. It is disgusting that the Arabs are willing to do this to their own cousins, and equally dismaying that world opinion endorses it."

"Apartheid, Saudi Style" (Amir Taheri, New York Post, 2003/05/22)
Taheri on how radical Sunnis view and treat Shi'ites in Saudi Arabia: "Worse still, the official theological organs of the state, exclusively held by clerics from the Hanbali Sunni school of Islam, publicly castigate Shi'ites as non-Muslims. Courts, controlled by the Hanbali clerics, do not admit testimony by Shi'ites. The same clerics have banned marriages between Hanbali Sunnis and Shi'ites and declared all Shi'ite marriages as "illegal." ...
With the rise of militant Hanbalism, one version of which is represented by Osama bin Laden, Shi'ites have emerged as the royal family's strongest supporters - for if the Al Saudi dynasty is toppled, its place would be taken by fanatics like bin Laden, who publicly state that Shi'ites must convert to Hanbalism, leave the country or face death. ...
Bin Baz was especially shocked by the Shi'ite claim that even the basic rules of Islam could be open to interpretation and re-interpretation. "When the Shi'ites say that Reason (Aql) must be favored over Tradition (Naql), what they mean is putting man in place of God," the blind sheikh asserted. "For us Islam is a truth from the beginning (Azal) to the eternity (Abad). It cannot be something today and some thing else tomorrow."
Such issues, of course, cannot be debated in any useful context as long as radical Sunni theologians believe that they become "unclean" even by shaking the hand of a Shi'ite."

"Where's the Muslim Debate?" (Hussain Haqqani, Wall Street Journal/danielpipes.org, 2003/05/22)
Haqqani on the "campaign to block the appointment of Daniel Pipes to the board of the United States Institute of Peace":
"Although the Washington Post, among others, has editorialized against his appointment, the controversy should be seen in the context of the civil war of ideas in the Muslim world - between those who wish to reconcile adherence to their faith with modernity and those seeking the restoration of a mythical glorious past. The Pipes nomination has become a test of strength for those Islamists who wish to paint the war against terrorism as a war against Islam. If they can rally American Muslims to their cause, they would be able to limit the scope of debate about Islamic issues within parameters set by them. That objective doesn't serve the interests of the U.S. or of Muslims. ...
The campaign against Mr. Pipes is an example of this tendency to scuttle discussion. Muslims who disagree with his views should respond to him with arguments of their own. Slandering him might help polarize secular and Islamist Muslims, but it won't raise the level of discourse about Islamic issues. It's time for Muslim leaders in the U.S. to break the pattern of agitation that has characterized Muslim responses to the West."

"Surveys pointing to high civilian death toll in Iraq" (Peter Ford, The Christian Science Monitor, 2003/05/22)
"Evidence is mounting to suggest that between 5,000 and 10,000 Iraqi civilians may have died during the recent war, according to researchers involved in independent surveys of the country.
None of the local and foreign researchers were willing to speak for the record, however, until their tallies are complete.
Such a range would make the Iraq war the deadliest campaign for noncombatants that US forces have fought since Vietnam.
Though it is still too early for anything like a definitive estimate, the surveyors warn, preliminary reports from hospitals, morgues, mosques, and homes point to a level of civilian casualties far exceeding the Gulf War, when 3,500 civilians are thought to have died."

"U.S. Wins Support to End Sanctions on Iraq" (Felicity Barringer, The New York Times, 2003/05/22)
"The final American concessions on the resolution to end nearly 13 years of sanctions against Iraq won the support of France, Russia and Germany today, ensuring the overwhelming approval of the measure, which is set for a vote on Thursday morning.
The measure grants the United States and Britain an extraordinary amount of authority over Iraq's political and economic affairs until a representative, internationally recognized government is installed. The resolution would give a limited but independent role to a United Nations special representative to help the occupying powers and Iraqi groups create a new government."

Wednesday, May 21, 2003

News and commentary:

"Bin Laden Aide Urges Muslims to Strike U.S., Jews" (Miral Fahmy, Reuters, 2003/05/21)
...and Norway? Really? Why? It's not exactly known for its "crusaderism", but rather for labour organizations wanting to mark and boycott Israeli products and members of the Nobel Peace Prize committe regretting that Shimon Peres got the prize. In fact, Zawahri might rather mean Denmark, which did take part in Operation Iraqi Freedom:
"Qatar's al-Jazeera television network aired Wednesday an audio tape purportedly from Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant in which he urged Muslims to wage holy war against Americans, Jews and Western interests.
The broadcast followed U.S. warnings of imminent al Qaeda attacks in the Unites States, Middle East and Africa. ...
"The crusaders and the Jews only understand the language of murder, bloodshed ... and of the burning towers," Zawahri said, referring to New York's World Trade Center towers which were leveled by suicide plane hijackers in Sept. 11, 2001. ...
"Carry arms against your enemies, the Americans and Jews ... Attack the missions of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Norway and their interests, companies and employees. Turn the ground beneath their feet into an inferno and kick them out of your countries," Zawahri said." (See also: "'Al-Qaeda' statement: Full text" (BBC News, 2003/05/21), "Norwegian Unions Boycott Israel" (Fredrik K.R. Norman, 2002/04/18) and "Nobel's regrets on Peres award" (BBC News, 2002/04/05))

"Saudis: Three arrested in hijack plot" (CNN.com, 2003/05/21)
"Saudi security sources told CNN on Wednesday that they have arrested three al Qaeda members, who were planning to hijack a passenger plane and crash it into a building in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. ...
The al Qaeda suspects were arrested Monday evening in the Jeddah airport before they boarded a Saudia flight to Sudan, sources said. Saudia is the country's national airline carrier. ...
The men had knives and last testaments, or wills, on them when they were arrested, the sources said.
The sources said the men were members of the same al Qaeda cell that carried out last week's bombing attacks at three residential compounds in Riyadh but that they are not believed to be perpetrators of the attack. One of them was on the Saudi most-wanted list, sources said."

"Robert Scheer's Canard-o-Matic" (Stefan Sharkansky, Shark Blog, 2003/05/21)
A very cool and revealing analysis of Scheer's columns: "Columnist Robert Scheer's columns about Iraq all started to sound the same after a while, so I did an exhaustive analysis of his columns from the first few months of the year, and confirmed that they simply recycle through the same old canards. It's almost as if Scheer has a machine that spits out random combinations of canards each week. ...
Big Lie - The only way that Bush can persuade the American people to support the overthrow of Saddam is to engage in "Big Lie" deceptions, ala Goebbels. ("...in his chaotic two-year presidency, Bush has pushed the Big Lie approach so far that we are seeing dramatic signs of its cracking..." - Mar. 4) ...
Empire - The real reason for the war is for the United States to create an empire and to invent some colonies to rule.("Whether this war is short or long, extremely bloody or just bloody, the stark fact is that a barely elected president has made the United States the first colonizer of the 21st century..." - Mar 18)" (See also: "Scheer Deception: The Lies and Jargon of Robert Scheer" (Ben Fritz, Spinsanity, 2001/10/08))

"Remember Afghanistan?" (Austin Bay, Strategy Page, 2003/05/21)
Starting from rubble: "If genuine, secure democratic change emerges from Afghanistan's rubble, Osama bin Laden and his cohort of Islamo-fascists will follow the Soviet Union into history's dustbin. ...
Afghanistan is where Osama, the United States and the Soviet Union intersected. Soviet savagery left a devastated society. American support for the Afghan Mujahadeen helped defeat the Soviet invaders. The Russians defeat in that long conflict gave Bin Laden the idea that the world was ripe for his brand of revolution. ...
Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, Dr. Ishaq M. Shahryar, isn't ready to forget Afghanistan. ...
In Washington last week, Shahryar acknowledged the fragile security. He argues, however, there's news, then there's the real story. The real story is a brick by brick business, with little media sizzle.
It's also the way peace is created, by raising physical and political structures that create and maintain security and wealth. "Expect no immediate miracles," Shahryar cautioned, "this is the slow work of details." ...
Is it doable?
"We're doing it," the ambassador said. "But we need continued support. Afghanistan is a model for other Islamic countries that start from rubble or ground zero." He ended with a history lesson. 'Central Afghanistan is the high ground. Hold it, and you will influence for good or evil that which flows into Europe and Asia.'"

"Take a couple of valium, dear, and sit down" (Stephen Pollard, stephenpollard.net, 2003/05/21)
"This is to die for. You really couldn't make this Heather Mallick column up:

...Mr. Blair thinks gays are dirty beasts, doesn't like immigrants or atheists, loathes the word "feminist" and is a born-again Christian. No wonder his wife is still giving birth in her 40s.

Even kindly journalists and Labour MPs are suggesting Mr. Blair may be mentally ill and it's time to anoint Gordon Brown.

...Normal Britons are appalled, as they have no one else to vote for, what with the bald weirdo and that other little party that never seems to stay with the tour bus.

...Mr. Blair's Britain is becoming a hateful place run by a madman. Farewell, Britannia.

A piece like this shouldn't be Fisked but enjoyed for all its lunatic brilliance." (See also: "God save the Brits - from madman Blair" (Heather Mallick, The Globe and Mail, 2003/05/17))

"Col. Tim probed on war crimes" (John Kay, The Sun, 2003/05/21)
"An Army officer hailed a hero for his inspirational leadership in the Iraq conflict is being probed over alleged war crimes, The Sun can reveal.
Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins, 43, has been accused of a number of “serious breaches” of war rules.
Military investigators are examining claims that he punched, kicked and threatened Iraqi PoWs and opened fire needlessly.
Cigar-chomping Col Collins gained fame on the eve of the war by galvanising his troops with an emotion-charged address that won praise from Prince Charles and US President George Bush.
The officer, who led the Canterbury-based Royal Irish Regiment in battles across southern Iraq, strenuously denies the allegations." (See also: "Rimbaud meets Rambo on the eve of battle" (Ben Macintyre, The Times, 2003/03/22))

"Juad celebrates 'return to the world' after 21 years hiding from Saddam" (Kate Connolly, The Daily Telegraph, 2003/05/21)
"It took just over a week for Juad Amir Sayed to mastermind his own disappearance from the world he had known for 24 years. He buried all his books in a flour sack in the ground, burnt his identity card and built a tunnel leading to the slimmest of cells beneath the family kitchen.
Juad did not know it then, but the 3ft wide and 5ft high concrete room that he entered on Dec 2 1981 was to become his home for the next 21 years, a self-imposed exile - literally between the walls of his own home - which he says offered his only hope of survival under the regime of Saddam Hussein.
He emerged from his cramped cell, stumbling into blinding sunlight, five weeks ago."

"Allies to Begin Seizing Weapons From Most Iraqis" (Michael R. Gordon, The New York Times, 2003/05/21)
"The need to secure Baghdad and provide security elsewhere in the country is expected to slow the pace of American troop withdrawals from Iraq, allied officials said. The United States has about 165,000 troops in Iraq. It is likely to have 100,000 in the fall, more than American planners had projected just three weeks ago. ...
Since allied forces toppled Mr. Hussein's government last month, they have struggled to fill the power vacuum in Baghdad and provide security in this capital of 4.5 million people. American military officials insist that the capital is safer than it was a month ago and that progress has been made in restoring essential utilities like electricity and water.
"Looting has gone down and violent crime has gone down," General McKiernan said. "The trend is down."
But robberies, looting, kidnappings and attacks by paramilitary forces are still frequent, prompting allied forces to step up their efforts to secure the country."

Tuesday, May 20, 2003

News and commentary:

"Officials: 'Chatter' hints at major attack" (CNN.com, 2003/05/20)
"Senior U.S. officials said Tuesday that intelligence "chatter" suggests terrorists may be planning a major attack inside the United States. One official called the intelligence "reasonably spooky stuff." ...
The United States announced that it was closing its embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and its consulates in Jeddah and Dhahran on Wednesday after receiving "credible information that further terrorist attacks are being planned against unspecified targets in Saudi Arabia." ...
Britain also plans to close its Riyadh embassy Wednesday, officials said. They did not say when it would reopen.
Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, said Monday that he believes the suicide bombers who struck Riyadh last week were planning a much bigger operation and that he fears another devastating attack."

"Saddam Stole Billions From U.N." (Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz, ABC News, 2003/05/20)
"United Nations officials looked the other way as Saddam Hussein's regime skimmed $2 billion to $3 billion in bribes and kickbacks from the U.N. Oil-for-Food Program, said U.N. officials who told ABCNEWS they were powerless to stop the massive graft.
An international investigation conducted by ABCNEWS found widespread corruption in the U.N. program, which helped Saddam build his fortune in U.S. currency.
"Everybody knew it, and those who were in a position to do something about it, were not doing anything," said Benon Sevan, the executive director of the Office of Iraq Program. When asked if that included him, he told ABCNEWS, 'I have no power.'"

"Palestinians strike back … at extremists" (AP/The Globe and Mail, 2003/05/20)
"Hundreds of residents of Beit Hanoun burned tires and blocked the main road Tuesday in a rare burst of anger at extremists who have prompted Israeli incursions by firing rockets from the town at Israeli targets. ...
In an unusual protest, about 600 Beit Hanoun residents blocked a main thoroughfare with trash cans, rocks and burning tires to show their anger at the extremists and Palestinian Authority officials.
"They (the militants) claim they are heroes," Mohammed Zaaneen, 30, a farmer, said as he carried rocks into the street. 'They brought us only destruction and made us homeless. They used our farms, our houses and our children ... to hide.'"

"Remember Khobar Towers" (Louis J. Freeh, The Wall Street Journal, 2003/05/20)
"Impervious to the new order against terrorism are the terrorists who maintain their regime in Tehran. While the horrific bombing scenes were still smoldering and littered with their victims in Riyadh, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami received a rousing welcome in Beirut, where he vowed to support "resistance" against Israel and called the U.S. occupation of Iraq a "great mistake" and a "dangerous game." Meanwhile, Mr. Khatami's atomic-energy chief denied that Iran had a nuclear weapons program but told the U.N. that his country was not willing to submit to tougher inspections.
Make no mistake, Iran's terrorist leaders are well versed in "martyrdom operations" against Americans. Hezbollah, the exclusive terrorist agent of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has killed more Americans than any other group besides al Qaeda. ...
Yesterday the White House reiterated Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's recent statement that al Qaeda leaders are now conducting their operations from Iran. The time to bring that pressure to bear is right now, with Ambassador Bremer and our armed forces bringing democracy and justice to the Iraqi people next door. This time the United States should not just send Tehran a letter. American justice for our 19 Khobar heroes is long overdue."

"Not every bomber is an al-Qaida bomber" (David Aaronovitch, The Guardian, 2003/05/20)
Aaronovitch addresses his "outing" as a "neocon" in The New Statesman: "I didn't even know that I was a neocon. Had no idea, to be frank. Thought the whole profile was wrong, really. Then this magazine called the New Statesman runs a big cover piece, revealing that not only am I a neocon, but - hell - I'm one of the biggest. "Well", I say, "I figure an outfit like that has got to have done its homework, so maybe they know something I don't. Perhaps I am a barmy, war-loving, big-business Zionist with a penchant for conspiracies. After all," I say, "look at my name." "Dead giveaway," agrees Wolfie. 'Welcome aboard.'" (See also: "Some of my best friends are Neo-Cons....." (Harry Hatchett, Harry's Place, 2003/05/20): "Aaronovitch is, of course, referring to the frequently heard view that the neo-cons are a Jewish clique. This is becoming a recurring theme in any discussion about the still (to my mind) ill-defined group labelled as neo-conservatives. Of course it emerged most blatantly in the infamous Tam Dalyell 'cabal' comments and is sadly heard more from the left than anywhere else. ... I suspect Stephen Pollard, who is proud to describe himself as a 'neo-con' would laugh at the idea that Aaro, a liberal, ex-Eurocommunist, broadly New Labour type could seriously be considered a convert to neo-conservatism simply because he took a sensible position over Iraq and isn't afraid to call a terrorist a terrorist.")

"The Arab League Think Tank Responds to MEMRI's Report:
Fabricates Quotes From MEMRI" (MEMRI, Press Release - No. 2, 2003/05/20)
The Zayed Centre's response to MEMRI's study of them says more about the tragic state of this Arab League "think tank" than about anything else. "Following the release of MEMRI's report, the Zayed Centre issued a press release which included fabricated quotes, falsely attributed to MEMRI, claiming that MEMRI referred to it as "the stray black stone in the Islamic galaxy." Another fabrication was that the MEMRI report called lecturers at the Zayed Centre "donkeys and idiots." No such quote exists in MEMRI's report.":
'What is of special interest in this report, is that it describes the Zayed Centre as "the stray black stone in the Islamic galaxy". It, then, condemns all the eminent international figures who were hosted by the Centre. such as Jimmy Carter, Jacques Chirc. Al Gore, Waldheim, as mere "donkeys and idiots" because they have accepted the Centre's invitation not knowing that it is Nazi and anti-Semitic. ... To conclude, since its foundation in 1999, the Centre has been committed to free dialogue between conflicting and diverse views and opinions. Therefore. the Centre is not bound by any cultural taboos. Within this spirit, we, therefore, are the right to claim that the MEMRI report has no space within human civilization.'" (See also: "The Think Tank of the Arab League: The Zayed Centre for Coordination and Follow-Up (ZCCF)" (Steven Stalinsky, MEMRI, 2003/05/16))

"A journey without maps" (Fouad Ajami, usnews.com, from the 2003/05/26 issue)
"'It's a new environment,' Saad al-Faqih, a London-based Saudi dissident and physician, said, describing the desert kingdom. "There is a completely different scene as far as the hostility against the United States - and the society itself is providing a natural shelter and protection to al Qaeda members."
In truth, there was nothing new about this latest act of terror, just as there is nothing new about the kind of shelter ordinary, mainstream society in the Arab world grants this sort of violence. In Iraq, mass graves filled by Saddam Hussein's brutal regime now turn up almost daily. Yet few Arabs outside Iraq have stepped forth to acknowledge the criminality of the order that had been in place in Baghdad; few have said a word of praise for the foreign liberators of Iraq. Indeed, a well-known singer and rabble-rouser in Egypt has turned up with a popular new hit: "Better Saddam's hell than America's paradise," the song goes. ...
We buy no friendship in Arab lands with pro-Palestinian diplomacy; we ward off no anti-American terrorism. There is no possibility the rancid anti-Americanism of Hosni Mubarak's Egypt would be assuaged with a big push for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement. The highest religious authority of that land, Sheik al Azhar Muhammad Tantawi, recently called the American-led coalition's effort against Saddam a "crusading war" and said that Muslims everywhere were obliged to take up arms against the "invaders." This kind of sentiment can never be stilled with a diplomatic effort on behalf of the Palestinians.
There are deeper furies that grip Arab society; we take up a false trail when we fall for the claim that our troubles in that world spring from our policy on Israel and Palestinians."

"Dubious Blame" (Robert Lane Greene, The New Republic, 2003/05/20)
"Other than our presence in Saudi Arabia, perhaps the most common answer to the question of why they hate us over the last year and a half has been our support for Israel. ... But just as the bombings in Riyadh and Morocco last week have dispelled the myth that the American presence in Saudi Arabia was "causing" terrorism, they should also have put paid to the argument that our support for Israel is Al Qaeda's major irritant. After all, the Riyadh bombings came just as Colin Powell was arriving in the region to pressure Palestinians and Israelis to begin implementation of a "road map" for peace. The Morocco bombings came just as Ariel Sharon was set to meet Mahmoud Abbas, the recently appointed Palestinian prime minister. ...
Modern Islamists are drastically out of step with the modern world; they know it and they hate it. They cannot be placated by any change in American policy, whether reasonable or far-fetched. They can only be satisfied by the reestablishment of an Islamic caliphate, governed by sharia, from Morocco to Indonesia. As such, American strategy in the "war on terrorism" (better described as a war on members of Al Qaeda and affiliated groups) is justifiably one-pronged, with that prong being the killing or capturing of Islamist militants."

"The story of the Internet and the frustrated mullahs" (Margaret Wente, The Globe and Mail, 2003/05/20)
An article on the Iranian blogosphere: "The story of the Internet and the mullahs is a fascinating study in how technology can subvert even the most repressive of regimes. In the past couple of years, Iranian authorities have cracked down hard on the country's reformist press, closing newspapers and arresting journalists. But it will be harder for the mullahs to close down the Web. Sina Montallebi has become a powerful symbol of the liberal and technology-savvy generation that the mullahs have failed to suppress. ...
In Iran, they are sometimes a source of information you won't read in the censored press. More important, they're a way for people to speak relatively freely with each other.
"I think Weblogs are very powerful in the absence of a free press," says Mr. Derakhshan. But that's not the only reason for their popularity. "Blogs got popular in Iran because of the change in the value system. They're about self-expression, individuality, rationality, and tolerance." The Net is also popular with teenagers and young adults, he adds, because their parents have no idea what they're doing." (See also Hossein Derakhshan's weblog: Editor: Myself (English))

"Edward Said's Parting Shots" (Edward Alexander, Nicolai Popov and Marc Lange, Grad.Washington.Edu/FrontPageMagazine, 2003/05/20)
A critique written for the University of Washington community by three faculty members, in anticipation of a lecture on their campus by Professor Edward Said: "If enormous influence in the academic world is a reliable indicator of intellectual distinction, then Edward Said is a fine choice as University of Washington Walker-Ames Lecturer. He has taught a whole generation of English professors to search for racism in writers (like Jane Austen) who did not think as the professors do. He has induced a generation of Middle East scholars not only to believe that "since the time of Homer ... every European, in what he could say about the Orient, was a racist, an imperialist" but to ridicule "speculations about the latest conspiracy to blow up buildings, sabotage commercial airliners and poison water supplies" as "highly exaggerated [racial] stereotyping" (this in a statement of 1997)." (See also: "Edward W. Said, intellectual" (Bruce Bawer, The Hudson Review/brucebawer.com, from the Winter 2002 issue))

"Last gasp of the monster of Islamist terrorism" (Amir Taheri, The Times, 2003/05/20)
"The attacks in Morocco and Saudi Arabia, despite their dramatic and devastating impact, may well be the last gasps of the monster of international Islamist terrorism. The hard facts speak for themselves. Acts of international terrorism fell by almost half from 2001 to 2002 — to the lowest figure since 1969.
Most centres for the study of global terrorism report unprecedented calm. Their analysis is backed by the latest annual US State Department report and an interim study, to be submitted next month to the G8 summit in Annecy. There were 199 "acts of global terrorism" in 2002. There were no acts of terror in the United States, the United Kingdom or Australia, designated as special targets by al-Qaeda."

"Flurry of Iraq papers heralds new freedom" (Anthony Browne, The Times, 2003/05/20)
"Every day in Iraq a few more newspapers start publishing, taking advantage of the first freedom of speech that most Iraqis have ever known. ...
Some titles, translated from the Arabic, will be familiar to British readers: The Independent (which carries a rather alluring picture of Anna Kournikova), The Sun and, almost certainly the best, The Times. Others are called Freedom, Democracy, Brotherhood and Future Call.
Al-Naba, a new Kurdish weekly, carries a story about how people who had called their sons Saddam are now trying to change their names. Not one of them carries a flattering picture of Saddam Hussein, compulsory for all newspapers just six weeks ago."

Monday, May 19, 2003

News and commentary:

"Choosing sides in World War II" (Dilacerator, 2003/05/19)
A post on Remembrance Day ceremonies in Amsterdam disrupted by Moroccan immigrants. Found via InstaPundit: "Today's edition of the Trouw newspapers has a long article on the events. I shan't translate all of it, but here are salient excerpts:

It was the leader of the D66 Michel Rog from the Amsterdam precinct of de Baarsjes who went to the media. He was furious over what happened on Sunday May 4th at the remembrance ceremony in his neighborbood. But neither the organizers, nor the precinct council, nor the police reported the incident. "Subsequently it turns out that the ceremonies were disrupted in several Amsterdam precincts. That's serious. But everywhere it's been kept quiet, even when reports had been made to the police. Shocking. Some of the incidents have even now not been publicized yet."

[...] The horn sounded, it turned quiet. Almost immediately afterward [...] Rog heard from behind him, further down the street, the chanting of slogans. There was a group of boys, apparently Moroccans, between the ages of 10 and 18. At least five of them chanted "We have to kill the Jews." [In Dutch, this rhymes] ...

It's not really news that the Arab immigrants here are virulently anti-Semitic, but the descration of the of May fourth remembrance ceremonies is a further escalation, taking the anti-semitism to a brazen new level. And while the war may have ended over half a century ago, the May ceremonies still play an important role in Dutch life. By disrupting them, the Moroccan thugs have placed themselves even further outside of civilized society than they already were. Choosing the side of the Nazis so blatantly makes it very hard even for the most deluded multiculturalist to defend them."

"Arab Pundits See Terror Attacks Aiding Sharon" (Jefferson Morley, The Washington Post, 2003/05/19)
"Israeli extremism, not Palestinian extremism, is ultimately to blame for the string of suicide bombings in the last two days in Israel and the occupied territories.
That is the rough consensus in the English-language online media in the Middle East. The attacks, while almost universally condemned, evoke no sympathy for Israeli government outside of Israel itself. ...
"Can Bush Stand Up to Sharon," asks Arab News columnist Hassan Tahsin The suicide attacks, he says in the Saudi-based news site, "will become Sharon's excuse for not wanting to implement the road map as it is."
Particularly ominous, say the editors of the Jordan Times was Sharon's decision to cancel his scheduled trip to Washington to meet Bush.
'We absolutely condemn the Palestinian suicide bomber who killed seven people aboard a Jerusalem bus on Sunday.
But this terrorist and his group would not have achieved their goal had Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon not put off a trip to Washington for crucial talks with President George W. Bush and top US officials on the roadmap for Middle East peace.'" (See also: "Can Bush Stand Up to Sharon?" (Hassan Tahsin, Arab News, 2003/05/19) and "Who let terror win?" (The Jordan Times, 2003/05/19))

"Saving Private Lynch: Take 2" (Robert Scheer, Los Angeles Times, 2003/05/19)
"Where the manipulation of this saga really gets ugly" is rather in this very column (and also quite a good summary of Scheer's columns in general): "But where the manipulation of this saga really gets ugly is in the premeditated manufacture of the rescue itself, which stains those who have performed real acts of bravery, whether in war or peacetime. ...
This fabrication has already been celebrated by an A&E special and will soon be an NBC movie. The Lynch rescue story — a made-for-TV bit of official propaganda — will probably survive as the war's most heroic moment, despite proving as fictitious as the stated rationales for the invasion itself. If the movies, books and other renditions of "saving Private Lynch" were to be honestly presented, it would expose this caper as merely one in a series of egregious lies marketed to us by the Bush administration." (See also: "This BBC report says that the rescue of Jessica Lynch was faked..." (Glenn Reynolds, InstaPundit, 2003/05/18) and "Scheer Deception: The Lies and Jargon of Robert Scheer" (Ben Fritz, Spinsanity, 2001/10/08))

"Pentagon calls BBC's Lynch allegations 'ridiculous'" (Jamie McIntyre, CNN.com, 2003/05/19)
"Any charge that the U.S. military misrepresented the facts of Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch's rescue April 1 from an Iraqi hospital to make the mission appear more dramatic or heroic is "void of all facts and absolutely ridiculous" the Pentagon said Monday.
Responding to a BBC report that called the Pentagon accounts of the rescue "one of the most stunning pieces of news management ever conceived," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said, 'I think that allegation is ridiculous, I don't know how else to respond. The idea that we would put a number of forces in danger unnecessarily to recover one of our POWs is just ridiculous.'" (See also: "This BBC report says that the rescue of Jessica Lynch was faked..." (Glenn Reynolds, InstaPundit, 2003/05/18))

"Suicide blast rocks Israeli mall" (BBC News, 2003/05/19)
"A suicide blast has killed at least three people in a shopping mall in the northern Israeli town of Afula.
At least 48 people were wounded in the blast - the second suicide attack against Israelis on Monday and the fifth in three days.
The bomber - a 19-year-old female student from the West Bank - was among the dead.
Two security guards who tried to stop her also died in what witnesses described as a huge explosion.
Two Palestinian militant groups - Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade - have said they were behind the attack."

"Jihad is Over! (If Noah Feldman Wants It.)" (Martin Kramer, Sandstorm, 2003/05/19)
Kramer on Noah Feldman: "He's a 32-year-old assistant professor of law at New York University and author of a new book (his first) entitled After Jihad: America and the Struggle for Islamic Democracy. He's also been anointed chief U.S. adviser to Iraq for the writing of its new constitution. ...
The Esposito/Feldman idea goes like this: Islamists are really no worry at all. In fact, they are actually the best hope for democracy in the Middle East. Leading Islamist thinkers want democracy, and if Islamist parties were allowed to take power - which they certainly would do in free elections - it would be an improvement over the situation today. Even if Islamists declared "Islamic" states on assuming power, these regimes would probably be more or less democratic, provided you don't insist on a narrow, culture-bound definition of democracy. ...
Now Noah Feldman comes along to reassure us that the jihad has really abated this time. 9/11 and subsequent attacks are "the last, desperate gasp of a tendency to violence that has lost most of its popular support." Al-Qa'ida is "politically irrelevant." The "alarmist argument is behind the curve." The mainstream Islamists don't want jihad, they want democracy: 'The Islamists' call for democratic change in the Muslim world marks a fundamental shift in their strategy.'"

"A shameful Panorama" (Stephen Pollard, stephenpollard.net, 2003/05/19)
"Truly awful Panorama last night 'investigating' the neocon conspiracy. The neocon mafia (yes, that's how they were continually described) have, it seems, first befuddled poor, dimwitted George Bush, then forced him to impose freedom on the Iraqis. ...
Second, when it interviewed opponents, it chose those who happily lie about what neocons believe and what they - we, I should say - want to see happen: the Deputy Syrian Ambassador and a spokesman from the Islam Institute, for instance, who clearly have no axe to grind in such matters. ...
Not content with its warped, biased reporting of the war, and the run up to the war, the BBC is now hell bent on pumping out more dirty propaganda, and feeeding the most vile anti-semitic claims. What a lovely thought that my license fee is paying for this crap." (See also: "The War Party" (BBC News/Panorama, 2003/05/18))

"Al Qaeda Arms Traced to Saudi National Guard" (Peter Finn, The Washington Post, 2003/05/19)
"Saudi authorities are investigating suspected illegal arms sales by members of the country's national guard to al Qaeda operatives in the country, U.S. and Saudi officials said.
The weapons were seized in a May 6 raid on an al Qaeda safe house and were traced to national guard stockpiles, the officials said.
The Saudi interior minister said today that officials have identified three of the suicide bombers involved in attacks last week on three residential compounds in Riyadh, which led to the deaths of 34 people, including eight Americans. He said they were part of a group of 19 people wanted in connection with the May 6 raid."

"Saudis Link 4 in Bombing Plot to Qaeda Cell" (Neil MacFarquhar, The New York Times, 2003/05/19)
"Four suspects apparently linked to Al Qaeda have been arrested on suspicion of having advance knowledge of the three lethal bombings here last week, the Saudi interior minister said today, and three of the suicide bombers have been identified as members of a cell uncovered just days before the attacks.
The comments by Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz were the strongest official confirmation to date that Al Qaeda, the worldwide terrorist network founded by Osama bin Laden, may have guided the attacks here."

See the archive for earlier news and commentary.

 

Copyright © Watch 2001-2006.
Copyrights of quoted materials belong to their respective owners.

"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)

› AOTW Archive



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)

Weekly archive

2006/12/04 - 2006/12/10
2006/11/27 - 2006/12/03
2006/11/20 - 2006/11/26
2006/11/13 - 2006/11/19
2006/11/06 - 2006/11/12
2006/10/30 - 2006/11/05

› From 2001/09/11 -



Monthly index

December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006

› From September 2001 -



Author index

› Ajami, Fouad - Johnson, Paul
› Kagan, Robert - Ye'or, Bat



Support Watch

Please feel free to donate if you enjoy the daily content and links Watch provides:

Contact Watch

Email:
watch-at-windsofchange.net