Archived news and commentary: February 16 - 22, 2004

2004/03/29 - 2004/04/04
2004/03/22 - 2004/03/28
2004/03/15 - 2004/03/21
2004/03/08 - 2004/03/14
2004/03/01 - 2004/03/07
2004/02/23 - 2004/02/29
2004/02/16 - 2004/02/22
2004/02/09 - 2004/02/15
2004/02/02 - 2004/02/08
2004/01/26 - 2004/02/01
2004/01/19 - 2004/01/25
2004/01/12 - 2004/01/18
2004/01/05 - 2004/01/11
2003/12/29 - 2004/01/04

Sunday, February 22, 2004

News and commentary:

"Resist the wall..."
(AP/Muhammed Muheisen, 2004/02/22)
Palestinian English Lesson:
"Resist the wall.
The wall must fall.
The wall is a Canser. Stop it."
("Palestinian students study English at a school near a section of the separation fence Israel is building between Rafat village south of Ramallah and Jerusalem in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2004.") (Hat tip: Little Green Footballs.)

"The battle over Israel's West Bank barrier moves to The Hague" (AFP/Yahoo! News, 2004/02/22)
The bizarro world: "Palestinians insisted that the bus bombing in Jerusalem would have no impact on their case at the world court against the West Bank barrier as Israel argued the attack proved it an absolute necessity.
Israel has refused to send any legal representatives to argue its case at the International Court of Justice hearings from Monday, but senior ministers said the killing of seven passengers in the German Colony area of Jerusalem Sunday justified the controversial fence.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said it demonstrated "the construction of the security fence is indispensable" while Justice Minister Tommy Lapid said "Palestinian terrorism" should be placed in the dock rather than Israel.
But Nasser al-Qidwa, who will lead the Palestinian prosecution against the barrier at The Hague, said Sunday's attack would not hamper their arguments.
"From the point of view of the court I don't think it's damaging frankly, because the court is dealing with the law," he told AFP."

"Eight killed in Jerusalem bus bombing" (Etgar Lefovitz, The Jerusalem Post, 2004/02/22)
The real world: "A Palestinian suicide bomber wearing a bag of explosives on his back boarded a crowded Jerusalem city bus Sunday morning filled with high school students and blew himself up, killing at least eight people and wounding 60 others, in the second bus bombing in the capital in just over three weeks.
The attack, which was the 110th Palestinian suicide bombing in the last three-and-a-half years of violence, occurred a day before the International Court of Justice at the Hague was to begin hearings on the security fence Israel is building to prevent suicide bombers from entering the country. ...
On Sunday night, 38 people remained hospitalized including a 15-year-old teen in critical condition. Among the seriously wounded were two teenage siblings - brother and sister- who were originally evacuated to different Jerusalem hospitals, and were reunited later in the day at the same hospital to make it easier for their parents to be at their bedsides."

"Nigeria Boycotts Polio Vaccination Drive" (Glenn McKenzie, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/02/22)
"A northern Islamic state in Nigeria that is at the heart of a spreading Africa polio outbreak declared Sunday it would not relent on its boycott of a mass vaccination program which it called a U.S. plot to spread AIDS and infertility among Muslims.
"Kano state will not participate in tomorrow's polio campaign. Our team made the discovery of contaminants first, remember," state government spokesman Sule Ya'u Sule told The Associated Press, referring to tests the state says its scientists conducted on the polio vaccine last year.
"Unless we are convinced by our committee (of health experts) that the oral polio vaccines are safe, the exercise remains suspended in Kano state," Sule said.
U.N. aid agencies insist the door-to-door drive to inoculate 63 million children in 10 west and central African countries, including Nigeria, is critical to stemming a growing polio outbreak spreading out from Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north." (See also: "Muslims' fears hinder fight on polio" (John Donnelly, The Boston Globe/miami.com, 2004/01/12) and "Polio and rumors spreading in Nigeria" (Glenn McKenzie, AP/The Seattle Times, 2003/10/25))

"Return of the old hatred" (Melanie Phillips, The Observer, 2004/02/22)
"Coverage of Israel is obsessive and disproportionate, and marked by a hysteria and malice not applied to any other conflict. And it cannot be divorced from the overt Jew-hatred that has now surfaced in Britain and Europe, particularly the give-away calumny of world Jewish power. The claim that Jews conspire to dominate the world is one of the oldest tropes of classic Jew-hatred. Astonishingly, claims made by the European Left are not far removed. It repeats claims that the 'powerful Jewish lobby' is now running American foreign policy. When Labour MP Tam Dalyell observed that a 'cabal' of Jewish power was behind Blair, he was thought a loveable eccentric. In the House of Lords, a meeting heard that Jews control the British media. One peer told a Jewish colleague: 'We've finished off Saddam. Your lot are next.'
The outcome is that an astonishing axis has developed between Islamic Jew-haters and the Left, marching behind the banners of 'human rights' on demonstrations in Europe producing chants of 'Hamas, Hamas, all Jews to the gas'.
Why? The main reason is ignorance of both the Middle East's history and its present. Next, the Left's hatred of Sharon is so great, along with its prejudice that America/the West is the oppressor and therefore the Islamic/Third World the victim, that it can't see what is happening."

"A Secret Hunt Unravels in Afghanistan" (Steve Coll, The Washington Post, 2004/02/22)
The first of two articles on the pre-9/11 hunt for Osama bin Laden:
"In the years before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the CIA carried out a secret but ultimately unsuccessful manhunt for bin Laden. It was based at first on the band of Afghan tribal agents, and later expanded to include other agents and allies, especially the legendary guerrilla leader Ahmed Shah Massoud. But the search became mired in mutual frustrations, near misses and increasingly bitter policy disputes in Washington between the Clinton White House and the CIA.
An ambitious plan for the TRODPINT team to kidnap bin Laden from his bed and hold him in an Afghan cave telegraphed the CIA's audacity, despite what operatives saw as a restrictive mandate from the president. At the same time, the CIA's inability to pinpoint bin Laden's location or capture him drew pointed questions from the White House about the agency's effectiveness."

Saturday, February 21, 2004

News and commentary:

"Bin Laden 'surrounded'" (The Sunday Telegraph, 2004/02/22)
"A British Sunday newspaper is claiming Osama bin Laden has been found and is surrounded by US special forces in an area of land bordering north-west Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Sunday Express, known for its sometimes colourful scoops, claims the al-Qaeda leader has been "sighted" for the first time since 2001 and is being monitored by satellite.
The paper claims he is in a mountainous area to the north of the Pakistani city of Quetta. The region is said to be peopled with bin Laden supporters and the terrorist leader is estimated to also have 50 of his fanatical bodyguards with him.
The claim is attributed to "a well-placed intelligence source" in Washington, who is quoted as saying: "He (bin Laden) is boxed in."
The paper says the hostile terrain makes an all-out conventional military assault impossible. The plan to capture him would depend on a "grab-him-and-go" style operation.
"US helicopters already sited on the Afghanistan border will swoop in to extricate him," the newspaper says. It claims bin Laden and his men 'sleep in caves or out in the open. The area is swept by fierce snow storms howling down from the 10,000ft-high mountain peaks. Donkeys are the only transport.'"

"Iran Right Sweeps to Win Over Shackled Reformists" (Parinoosh Arami and Paul Taylor, Reuters, 2004/02/21)
"Islamic conservatives hostile to President Mohammad Khatami's liberal reforms swept toward a predictable victory over shackled reformists on Saturday after a disputed parliamentary election with a sharply reduced turnout.
Interior Ministry figures showed conservatives won 133 of the first 194 provincial seats declared, deputy parliament speaker Behzad Nabavi said. A total of 289 seats were at stake. ...
State radio and television, keen to assert the reformist boycott had had no impact, announced a 60 percent turnout.
But Vice-President Mohammad Ali Abtahi said the national turnout was about 50 percent and in Tehran just 29 percent, sharply down on the 67 percent who voted nationwide in 2000, when Khatami's reformist allies won two thirds of the seats. ...
The Guardian Council said that by voting in large numbers Iranians had "foiled all the plots and plans of the enemies of religion and the nation, including the Great Satan, America."
Both the United States and the European Union voiced concern on Friday at the conduct of the poll, particularly the mass exclusion of reformist candidates."

"No Iraq poll before 2005 - Bremer" (BBC News, 2004/02/21)
"The chief US administrator for Iraq says the UN estimates that "technical problems" will prevent full elections taking place for at least a year.
In an interview with an Arabic TV station, Paul Bremer pointed to a lack of democratic and legislative infrastructure in Iraq.
The country's Shia majority have called for direct polls instead of a phased transition planned by the coalition.
But a UN commission sent to Iraq found early elections were unfeasible. ...
Iraq lacked the infrastructure to allow elections before the US-imposed deadline for the handover of power to a provisional Iraqi authority, Mr Bremer told Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV on Friday.
"[Iraq] has no law governing political parties, it has no voters' list, it has not had a credible reliable census in almost 20 years, there are no constituent boundaries to decide where elections would take place," he said.
'These technical problems will take time to fix - the UN estimates between a year and 15 months.'"

"Red Cross Visits Saddam for First Time" (Robert H. Reid, AP/my way, 2004/02/21)
"The international Red Cross visited Saddam Hussein in jail for the first time Saturday, and the ousted dictator wrote a letter to his family that will be delivered once the United States confirms it does not contain any hidden messages to his followers. ...
The international Red Cross made no statement about Saddam's health or conditions of confinement, routine practice for the organization. Doumani said the Red Cross would periodically visit Saddam as long as he remains in custody, but she gave no further details."

"Insider Tells Of Nuclear Deals, Cash" (Ellen Nakashima and Alan Sipress, The Washington Post, 2004/02/21)
"The Sri Lankan businessman who was an associate of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan has told Malaysian police how Khan shipped components to Libya and Iran for their nuclear weapons programs and received two briefcases with a $3 million payment from Iran, a Malaysian police report disclosed Friday.
In an insider's account of Khan's operation, Buhary Syed Abu Tahir said that Khan asked him to send two shipping containers of used centrifuges -- sophisticated equipment for enriching uranium -- to Iran from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, aboard a merchant vessel owned by an Iranian company, according to the 12-page report. In return, the Iranian contact provided the briefcases filled with dirhams, the currency of the UAE, that were stashed at Khan's guesthouse in Dubai, the report said. Tahir lives and does business in Malaysia."

Friday, February 20, 2004

News and commentary:

"Conflict erupts over 'anti-Semitic' art" (Nina Berglund, Aftenposten, 2004/02/20)
"The owner of an art gallery in Oslo has removed a painting from an exhibit aimed at fighting anti-Semitism, after the Israeli ambassador in Norway claimed the painting was offensive. Artist Chris Reddy is furious.
Andreas Engelstad, owner of Galleri A Minor, said he feels misunderstood, because the purpose of the exhibit was to highlight and counter anti-Semitism. "My last wish is to provoke Jews," he told news bureau NTB on Friday.
Engelstad said he removed Reddy's work after talking with Julius Patiel, the leader of a religious group in Trondheim who is one of only two survivors of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Norway.
"After talking with Julius Patiel, I have no problems removing the painting," Engelstad said.
Artist Reddy, however, is angry. He defends his painting, which features text that turns the "S" in "USA" and "Israel" into a swastika."

"The Saddam Oil Vouchers Affair" (Nimrod Raphaeli, MEMRI, 2004/02/20)
A translation of the complete list of recipients of oil vouchers, originally published by the Iraqi independent daily Al-Mada:
"Russia
1. The Russian State 1.366 billion
2. Zarubesneft 174.5 million
3. Russneft Ampex 86.9 million (for the office of the president, including 1 million to Mr. Tetzenko, Russian Ambassador to Baghdad)
4. Communist Party Companies 137 million
5. Amircom (Unity Party/ Ministry for Emergencies) 57 million
6. Mishinoimport 1 million
7. Al-Fayco (Russian Foreign Ministry) 128.8 million
8. Yatumin (Russian Foreign Ministry) 30.1 million
9. Slavneft 25.5 million
10. Zan Gaz 49.1 million
11. Rosneft Company 35.5 million
12. Caspian Investment 8.5 million
13. Kamaneft Company 7.5 million
14. Gasprom 26 million
15. Tatneft 1 million
16. LUKoil 63 million
17. Surgut Neftegas 4 million
18. Siberia Oil & Gas company 1 million
19. Nafta Moscow Company 25.1 million
20. Onaco Company 22.2 million
21. Sidanco Company 21.2 million
22. Sibneft 8.1 million
23. Transneft 9 million
24. Yukos 2 million
25. Liberal Democratic Party (Zhirinovsky) 79.8 million
26. Peace and Unity Party 34 million (the list mentions party chairwoman Sazhi Umalatova)
27. Russian Committee of Solidarity with the People of Iraq 6.5 million (its chair, Sergei Rudasev is mentioned)
28. Russian Association for Solidarity with Iraq 12.5 million (its chair, [Zhorafilon] is listed)
29. Russneft-Gazexport 12.5 million
30. Uralinvest (Stroyev) 8.5 million
31. Moscow Science Academy 3.5 million
32. Romain (son of former ambassador to Baghdad) 19.7 million
33. Zarabsneft (Gobkin University) 3.5 million
34. Nordvest Group) 2 million
35. Zarbshneft & Gas (Mr. Hassan) 3 million (only one million delivered)
36. Soyuzneftgaz (Yuri Shafrannik) 25.5 million
37. Nikolayi Ryzhkov 13 million
38. Stroyneftgas 6 million
39. Akht Neft Company 4.5 million
40. Chechna Administration 2 million
41. 'Adel Al-Jablawi (I.N.M. Airways) 6 million
42. Khrozolit 5 million
43. Trader Nafta 3 million
44. Chief of the President's Bureau 5 million
45. Russian Orthodox Church 5 million
46. Russian National Democratic Party 3 million"

"Iran - The Death of an Illusion" (Amir Taheri, New York Post, 2004/02/20)
"The key lesson to Iranians is that the alternative to this regime cannot emerge from within it. It is possible, and to some extent even happening now, that large segments of the establishment drift away from it. But, unless they are absorbed into an opposition, they will amount to nothing but flotsam and jetsam of a turbulent political life.
As the Prophet said: There is always something good in what happens. The Iranian election farce is no exception.
It shows that the present regime's legitimacy does not come from the ballot box but from its ability to impose its will by force if necessary. It obliges Iran's neighbors, and the major powers interested in the region, to abandon their illusions and to either accept the present regime on its own terms or designate it as a foe that must ultimately be brought down.
The death of illusions in Iran also means the death of the European policy of "constructive dialogue," first proposed by the Germans in the 1980s and now most actively pursued by the British. That policy was based on the assumption that the regime could reform itself, peacefully and speedily. It is now clear that it cannot."

"The Democrats' Smear Race" (Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post, 2004/02/20)
"You are an average citizen following the election campaign so far. What have you gleaned from the wall-to-wall cable news coverage of the candidates' debates, rallies and victory/concession speeches?
First, that President Bush has "deceived" (Al Sharpton), "misled" (Kerry, Howard Dean) and, indeed, outright "lied" (Dennis Kucinich) us into a pointless and ruinous war that, as Kerry's chief campaign surrogate, Edward Kennedy, thunders, was "made up in Texas" for pure political advantage. Hence, Bush's hands are dripping with the blood of 500 brave soldiers who died for a lying president seeking better poll numbers.
Second, that his own personal military service was dishonorable: AWOL from the Air National Guard, declares Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe; perhaps even a "deserter," the charge that Wesley Clark repeatedly refused to repudiate. ...
Vote him out? Given all that, shouldn't the man be drawn and quartered? Rarely has there been a political assault more concentrated, more unrelenting, more unrebutted - all occurring not as political advertising but on free media as campaign 'coverage.'"

"Europe has lost its leverage in all the places that matter" (Martin Woollacott, The Guardian, 2004/02/20)
"Europeans saw America demanding support for a risky war without offering real consultation, while the Americans saw Europeans, and especially Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, lightly breaking a compact that had lasted half a century. Even though German troops patrol the streets of Kabul under a Nato flag and Polish soldiers in Iraq enjoy Nato logistical support, mutual suspicion now hangs over every Nato meeting. American plans to move its Nato installations to the supposedly friendlier (and definitely cheaper) countries of eastern Europe reinforce the suspicion on the European side that America under George Bush has come to see the European Union as a potentially oppositional force that should be kept off balance and divided."

"'Europe must stifle anti-semitism'" (Ian Black, The Guardian, 2004/02/20)
"Europe must do everything in its power to combat anti-Semitism - but also help bring peace to the Middle East, Joschka Fischer, Germany's foreign minister, urged yesterday.
"We must never have a situation where an anti-Semite can threaten Jews without the majority standing up and protesting," he told a Brussels conference called in response to fears that anti-Jewish prejudice is again rising dangerously across the continent. ...
The conference has been the subject of bitter controversy. Mr Prodi convened it in response to complaints from American Jewish leaders that European "inaction and indifference" amounted to anti-Semitism. Countries such as France, Germany and Belgium - the so-called "axis of weasels" opposing George Bush's war in Iraq - are seen by many in the US as hotbeds of anti-Jewish hatred.
Meanwhile, some European commentators have caused offence by identifying a "cabal" of largely Jewish neo-conservatives driving Washington's unilateralist and pro-Israeli agenda.
Anger mounted last November when a Eurobarometer poll showed that 59% of Europeans saw Israel as the greatest threat to world peace. And there was fury over the suppression of an EU report blaming young Muslims for attacks on Jews."

Note: This is off-topic, but it says a lot about the mind-set in the former communist party in Sweden, Vänsterpartiet [the Left Party], which by the way dropped "Kommunisterna" [the Communists] from its name only after the fall of the Soviet Empire and got appr. 10 percent of the votes in the last election to Riksdagen.
This is from the party's committee's answer to Proposition 201, which proposes a "900-page program for a leftish policy regarding outer space":
"To establish intergalactical contacts is a necessity, albeit — of course — on a socialistic basis." (From today's paper version of Dagens Nyheter.)

Thursday, February 19, 2004

News and commentary:

"Europe's crocodile tears" (Ilka Schroeder, The Jerusalem Post, 2004/02/19)
"On Thursday, the European Commission held a seminar on anti-Semitism. This helped clarify what we already knew - that the EU strongly condemns anti-Semitism. At the same time, Europe continues to encourage what it condemns with its Middle East policy and with the anti-Semitic war it is helping to finance against Israel.
It is a well-known fact that parts of the EU funding to the Palestinian Authority ( 945 million from 2000 and 2003) were channeled to an undisclosed budget and that the PA has financed a terrorist war against Israel. In May 2002, Israel provided the European Commission with proof of the diversion of PA funds for terrorism.
Since then, the commission has denied having any knowledge of these facts, and the European parliament successfully stalled an inquiry committee on this issue. Instead of preventing the use of EU money to kill citizens of Israel, the majority of the political establishment dreams of an international "peace enforcement" against Israel, led or joined by the EU. ...
European media coverage of the Middle East should be no surprise to students of the history of anti-Semitism in Europe, since it regularly makes use of old stereotypes. It is not surprising that the widespread conspiracy theories are related to anti-Americanism and the notion of a "worldwide Jewish conspiracy." Nor should it amaze that the situation for Jews in Europe has worsened in the last three years. These are all direct outcomes of the political situation that the European Union, along with its member states and the media, has created." (See also: "Report: EU panel finds Arafat did not fund terror" (Herb Keinon, The Jerusalem Post, 2004/02/19) and "The War Against Israel and Growing European Nationalism" (Ilka Schroder, The Sprout, from the February 2004 issue))

"Russia Says New Missile Will Beat Any U.S. Defenses" (Tom Miles, Reuters, 2004/02/19)
"Russia has developed ballistic missile technology that can outwit any defensive system, a top Russian general said on Thursday, in a clear challenge to the United States' planned $50 billion anti-missile shield.
The declaration came a day after President Vladimir Putin, eyeing nationalist votes for elections next month, promised to equip his armed forces with a new generation of long-range weapons matching those of the United States.
First Deputy Chief of Staff Colonel-General Yury Baluyevsky said that during large-scale military exercises on Wednesday, Russia had test-launched a missile system that could maneuver in mid-flight, allowing it to dodge defenses.
"The test carried out yesterday confirmed that we can build weapons which will render any anti-missile system defenseless against an attack by Russia's strategic forces," he told a news conference.
"It's part of our unilateral response to the creation or future creation of a missile defense system by any state or bloc of states," he said."

"Report: EU panel finds Arafat did not fund terror" (Herb Keinon, The Jerusalem Post, 2004/02/19)
Anti-fraud unit? Sounds more like a Fraud unit to me:
"A week after the German paper Die Weld reported suspicion is growing that money from PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's office was transferred to terror organizations, the French daily Liberation reported Wednesday that a report being prepared by the EU's anti-fraud unit (OLAF) will show no financial ties between Arafat and terror.
The paper reported that according to its sources the report will show that Arafat did not use the financial assistance from the EU to "help in any way to fund terror organizations like the Al Aksa Brigades." ...
Ilka Schroeder, a German European Parliament member affiliated with the Green Party who was among those who pushed for an investigation of how EU money to the PA was being spent, sent an open letter to the three presidents of a "Working Group" in the European Parliament dealing with the issue on Thursday discounting the conclusions as reported in Liberation.
"It is known that the al-Aksa brigades are closely linked with the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Arafat and that they have committed several suicide bombings against Israelis," she wrote. "It is known that not only school books, but also radio and TV stations, prayers paid by the state and official newspapers spread hate against Israel and anti-Semitic prejudice. If OLAF shouldn't know this or should not be capable to make the logical conclusions from these facts, then OLAF is simply the wrong institution to investigate this course of events," she concluded." (See also: "Terror Documented" - News and commentary on evidence gained during Operation Defensive Shield, linking Arafat and the Palestinian Authority to terrorism.)

"U.S. official: Uranium enrichment parts found in Iran" (CNN.com, 2004/02/19)
"International inspectors have discovered uranium enrichment centrifuge parts in Iran that are much more sophisticated than the type Tehran has admitted to having, a senior Bush administration official said Thursday.
International Atomic Energy Agency officials found "P-2" centrifuge parts that are "far superior, more sophisticated than anything" that the Iranians have revealed publicly, the official said.
A P-2 centrifuge can produce much more uranium appropriate for production of nuclear weapons than a P-1, which the nation confirms it has.
In Tehran, Hamid Reza Assefi, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, denied Iran had the sophisticated centrifuges.
"There are no P-2 centrifuges in Iran, either at civilian or military installations," he told reporters."

"Roots of Pakistan Atomic Scandal Traced to Europe" (Craig S. Smith, The New York Times, 2004/02/19)
"The Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan has been demonized in the West for selling atomic secrets and equipment around the world, but the trade began in Europe, not Islamabad, according to court documents and experts who monitor proliferation.
The records show that industry scientists and Western intelligence agencies have known for decades that nuclear technology was pouring out of Europe despite national export control efforts to contain it.
Many of the names that have turned up among lists of suppliers and middlemen who fed equipment, materials and knowledge to nuclear programs in Pakistan and other aspiring nuclear nations are well-known players in Europe's uranium enrichment industry, a critical part of many nuclear weapons programs. Some have been convicted of illegal exports before."

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

News and commentary:

"The Gallery of "Bush = Hitler" Allusions" (Semiskimmed.net, 2004/02/18)
A useful and very telling collection of Bush=Hitler allusions by Harold Pinter, Ted Rall & Co.: "A quick note, first, about what counts as a "Bush = Hitler" allusion for these purposes. Obviously, someone saying "that George Bush guy is just like Hitler" counts. So does the ever-so-creative addition of a little Hitler-style mustache onto photographs or cartoons. So too does someone starting out "George Bush isn't like Hitler..." and then continuing "...but given X and Y and Z you can understand why some people are saying he is". So too does someone starting out "George Bush isn't like Hitler..." and then continuing with flattery of Hitler "...because Hitler was elected / didn't drink / actually served his time in the army". Implying that the Nazis were behaving better than the US certainly counts, such as "Not even the Nazis treated their prisoners this badly". Oh, and comparisons between September 11th and the Reichstag fire count as well." (Hat tip: Tim Blair.)

"Annan to Express Caution on Iraqi Elections" (Barry Schweid, AP/The Washington Post, 2004/02/18)
"U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to support the Bush administration and advise against direct elections for an interim government in Iraq, but will delay further recommendations until he consults with other governments, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
Annan has decided to restrict his immediate conclusions to agreeing with the administration that the direct elections proposed by Shiite clerics are not feasible before July 1, said the official, on condition of anonymity."

"'Heads should roll' over Iraq" (Eric Rosenberg, Toronto Star, 2004/02/18)
"Richard Perle, a chief proponent of last year's U.S. invasion of Iraq, yesterday called for the chiefs of the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Defence Intelligence Agency to step down because of their faulty conclusions that Saddam Hussein possessed mass-killing weapons.
Perle, a close adviser to U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, said top officials made no attempt to skew the intelligence about Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction. Instead, he implied, top policymakers relied in good faith on the conclusions of the intelligence agencies.
"George Tenet has been at the CIA long enough to assume responsibility for its performance," Perle told reporters, referring to the director of the agency. "There's a record of failure and it should be addressed in some serious way."
"The CIA has an almost perfect record of getting it wrong in relation to the (Persian) Gulf going back to the Shah of Iran," Perle said. He called for "a shakeup" in the U.S. intelligence establishment."

"Dutch courage" (Melanie Phillips, melaniephillips.com, 2004/02/18)
Phillips on the Dutch government decision to expel thousands of failed asylum-seekers: "A parliamentary report last month concluded that the country's 30-year experiment in tolerant multiculturalism had been a failure, ending in sink schools, violence, and ethnic ghettoes that shun inter-marriage with the Dutch. It found that 70-80 per cent of third-generation Dutch-born immigrants brought in their spouse from their "home" countries, mostly Turkey and Morocco. The consequences of this were brought home after September 11, 2001 when the intelligence service discovered that al-Qa'eda was "stealthily taking root in Dutch society".'
This is now a vital issue as our own debates about asylum, immigration, culture and national identity are threatened by knee-jerk vilification from illiberals designed to shut down debate. ...
The issues of immigration, culture and national identity are perhaps the most fundamental, difficult and emotionally charged of any that we face. The myth of a 'multicultural society', that oxymoron which drives government policy and faux-liberal thinking, has been used to intimidate and vilify anyone who wants to defend national identity and culture by labelling such views as beyond the pale. The Dutch have shown us that even the most decent people are driven in desperation to do distasteful things when the harm caused by the faux-liberal consensus leaves them no alternative if they are not to commit social suicide."

"Our society is complex. Please discuss" (Julian Baggini, The Guardian, 2004/02/18)
"The lazy use of derogatory labels is one symptom of this malaise. One of the least helpful of these is "Islamophobia". The introduction of this term into the lexicon of multiculturalism has, at a stroke, made it much more difficult to draw the kind of careful distinctions a serious discussion needs. It should be obvious that there is a world of difference between disliking a belief system and hating its adherents. "Islamophobia" blurs this distinction, by suggesting that opposition to Islam is just a prejudice, like homophobia or racism.
But most people who object to Islam are not doing so because they don't like the look of its followers. They reject it because they think it is wrong and in its extreme forms — note the qualification — harmful, just as others reject Christianity, and indeed, just as many Muslims reject atheism. Bigotry is not an inevitable consequence of deep disagreements about religion and its role in civic society. Fear of being labelled "Islamophobic" makes acknowledging these differences more difficult. ...
By eliding "race and culture" and presenting them as though they were two sides of the same coin, Phillips tarred Goodhart with the Powellite brush. But this is nonsense. Race and culture are not inseparable. Culture concerns beliefs and practices and we are responsible for what we believe and do. We have no such responsibility for the colour of our skin or ethnicity.
To be against the culture of white slave-owners was not to be racist against whites. To deny passports to anyone who refuses to accept some basic principles about their prospective new country's culture is not prejudiced; to deny it on the basis of skin pigmentation is." (See also: "Genteel xenophobia is as bad as any other kind" (Trevor Phillips, The Guardian, 2004/02/16) and "Too diverse?" (David Goodhart, Prospect, from the February 2004 issue))

"Stalinist Mullahs" (Michael Ledeen, National Review, 2004/02/18)
Ledeen on the upcoming Iranian election: "Meanwhile, the regime is placing terrorists in parliament. Loyal members of the security forces are now candidates in the upcoming elections from Teheran and other metropolitan center. For example, 30 candidates running under the banner of Abadegarane Irane Eslami (The Builders of an Islamic Iran) are members of the security forces and are being managed by the father-in-law of Khamenei's daughter Mr. Hadad Adel. For example:
1. Parviz Sorouri, a top Basij organizer in western Teheran. He is the editor-in-chief of Revolutionary Guard (Pasdaran) publications in Lebanon and Syria. A terrorist activist.
2. Said AbuTaleb, a member of the security apparatus and intelligence of Pasdaran. He was active in Iraq, posing as a television worker. He was arrested in Iraq and later released.
3. Hosseyn Fadai, one of the organizers of the army's branch known as the Badr forces. The Badr forces have undertaken terrorist activities in Iraq. A known terrorist, he is also a member of the group that oversees supplies for the armed forces. ...
In other words, the regime is now removing the "reformist" mask from all Iranian institutions. Henceforth we will see Stalinist Shiites alone."

"Baghdad's New Anti-Americans" (Steven Vincent, FrontPageMagazine, 2004/02/18)
"In my two trips to Iraq, I've come to dread these kinds of leftists. You run into them everywhere — in teahouses, restaurants, hotel lobbies, anyplace where Westerners gather. Their ranks include NGO workers, European journalists, religious pacifists, Canadians of every stripe — disparate groups united by their sense of moral superiority, opposition to the war in Iraq and their disdain for the United States. Together, they form a kind of humanitarian chorus which decries Coalition abuses of Iraqi citizens — yet falls silent before Ba'athist crimes, or the horror of suicide bombing. "I refuse to use the word 'terrorist' to describe those who resist the U.S. occupation," a Baghdad-based member of a Canadian Mennonite group once told me. "Those are terms used by the American government."...
They tend to focus their attention on Iraqis who have suffered from American abuses, rarely speaking to people who endured Ba’athist crimes. "Oh we know all about that," a Philadelphia Quaker visiting Baghdad replied off-handedly when I questioned her on this point. "We've been to El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala…" Demonstrating the narrowness of her experiences in Iraq, a woman traveling with CODEPINK asked me, "How bad was Saddam really?" As for the victims of terrorist bombings, no one ever mentions them; they are not a stop of the leftist’s pity circuit."

"The Next Plague" (Anne Applebaum, The Washington Post, 2004/02/18)
Applebaum on the threat of bioterrorism: "According to one molecular biologist who should know, there are already 20,000 labs in the world where a single person will be able to synthesize any existing virus within the next decade. In the same 20,000 labs, five people with $2 million will be able to create an enhanced pathogen — meaning a virus that could infect people who have been immunized with conventional vaccines — and kill perhaps a billion of them. With an additional $3 million, the same five people could build a lab from scratch, using equipment purchased online.
The threat, then, is not merely from the diseases we know about — anthrax, smallpox, plague — but from the diseases that haven't been invented yet."

Tuesday, February 17, 2004

News and commentary:

"Was I wrong about Iraq?" (David Aaronovitch, The Guardian, 2004/02/17)
"The government has lost a great deal of trust precisely because the weapons haven't been found, and because the Gilliganesque charge that Number 10 somehow lied about their presence, has stuck. The trouble is that I find - partly as a result of the Hutton inquiry (the evidence, not the report) — that I don't believe the government did lie. As the MoD intelligence dissident, Brian Jones, wrote to the Independent last week, "I cast no doubt on Mr Blair's integrity. He evidently believed that Iraq possessed a significant stockpile of chemical or biological weapons and expected them to be recovered during or soon after the invasion... such a discovery would have enhanced, rather than undermined, 'the global fight against weapons proliferation'."
Perhaps I might allay disappointment by blaming Blair et al for being too credulous, or too willing to adopt the precautionary principle, in order perhaps to maintain solidarity with the Americans. But I invite open-minded readers to consider this. Had there been a dossier released detailing WMD proliferation in, say, Libya, and blaming rogue Islamicist scientists from, say, Pakistan, I would have been just as (or more) sceptical than I was over Iraq. Yet last week Mohammed El Baradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that Abdul Qadeer Khan, who has admitted trading nuclear information and equipment with countries including Libya, was "the tip of an iceberg for us". What now seems extraordinary is that Iraq may not have been part of the submerged mass. Perhaps Butler will tell us why our government thought otherwise."

"Abdul Qadeer Khan" (Bernard-Henry Lévy, The Wall Street Journal, 2004/02/17)
"We will soon learn that far from being the overexcited, but in the end isolated, "Dr. Strangelove" that most of the press has described, Khan was at the center of an immense network, an incredibly dense web. There were Dubai front companies, meetings in Casablanca and Istanbul with Iranian colleagues, complicities in Germany and Holland, Malaysian and Philippine agents, and detours through Sri Lanka, with Chinese and London connections — a world of crime and dirty war that the West, mired in a big game that is beginning to get ahead of it, has so blithely allowed to develop. ...
And at last, sooner or later, we will come to the real secret: that of al Qaeda; and of Khan's links to Lashkar-e-Toiba, the fundamentalist terrorist group at the heart of al Qaeda; and the fact that this "mad scientist" is first of all mad about God, a fanatical Islamist who in his heart and soul believes that the bomb of which he is the father should belong, if not to the Umma itself, at least to its avant-garde, as incarnated by al Qaeda. So let us not shrink from measuring the probability of a nightmare scenario: to wit, a Pakistani state which — in the shelter of its alliance with an America that is decidedly not counting inconsistencies — could furnish al Qaeda with the means to take the ultimate step of its jihad."

"General defiant in face of nuclear secrets scandal" (Edward Luce and Farhan Bokhari, Finacial Times, 2004/02/17)
An interview with General Pervez Musharraf: "Gen Musharraf also revealed that A. Q. Khan had signed a written agreement two weeks ago in which he pledged not to resume any contacts with the "nuclear underworld" outside of Pakistan. Some critics in Pakistan allege that A. Q. Khan was pardoned in order to forestall any embarrassment to Islamabad that might arise from a trial.
Pakistan's president denied this. "He [A. Q. Khan] has written that he will never be involved in these activities again - proliferation activities - that he regrets all that he has done, that he's not going to get involved in anything of this sort. If he breaches that, certainly the pardon will be revoked."
Gen Musharraf also said that A. Q. Khan would be permitted to keep his extensive financial assets, in spite of the fact they were evidently ill-gotten gains. "Yes, he has property and he has been buying and spending left, right and centre. But we haven't taken them [his personal assets] over. We are not planning to."

"My fight for Danny's memory" (Mariane Pearl, Independent, 2004/02/17)
Daniel Peral's widow criticizes the Wall Street Journal:
"In May 2002, a lawyer for Dow Jones (the parent company of the Wall Street Journal) levelled with me. It was during Omar's trial, and as I tried to follow its proceedings I persisted in asking what the Journal was doing. They did not hire a lawyer in Pakistan and there was no transparency in any of the proceedings.
"It is your case, not ours," the lawyer eventually told me. I hung up. The moment that followed, when I looked at myself, too pregnant to go to Pakistan and represent Danny on my own, was one of the loneliest I've ever had. Months later, I wrote the Journal a letter.
"I am very well aware of the difficulties posed by the trial and investigation, as I have been facing them alone for the past ten months. But the murder of Danny was like a hijacked plane sent to explode in the heart of your company. I simply cannot understand how you can turn your back and fail to seek the truth...my determination to pursue these two goals reflects my own loyalty to the values I shared with Danny. My loyalty is stronger than the obstacles I have and will encounter."
I asked to meet them again, preferably without a company lawyer present, which led to my visit with Captain a year ago. Since then, not much has changed. I still rely on Yahoo for my updates about the case. From the Journal, all I've heard is the sound I've learned to dread the most: silence."

"Iraq oil cash funded MPs' campaigns" (David Leigh and David Pallister, The Guardian, 2004/02/17)
"Money illicitly siphoned from the UN oil-for-food programme by Saddam Hussein was used to finance anti-sanctions campaigns run by British politicians, according to documents that have surfaced in Baghdad.
Undercover cash from oil deals went to three businessmen who in turn supported pressure groups involving the ex-Labour MP George Galloway, Labour MP Tam Dalyell, and the former Irish premier Albert Reynolds, it is alleged in documents compiled by the oil ministry, which is now under the control of the US occupation regime. ...
Mr Chalabi and Mr Zureikat gave money to the Mariam Appeal, run by Mr Galloway, the MP confirmed. Mr Tahir said he ran another anti-sanctions campaign called Friendship Across Borders, which had Mr Dalyell as its official patron and organised visits to Baghdad by supportive politicians.
The three businessmen are alleged to have received money from Saddam via oil allocations. They sold the oil rights on at a profit of more than $1m (about £530,000), in an exploitation by Saddam of loopholes in the UN's then oil-for-food programme.
Mr Tahir agrees he profited from the oil deals. Mr Chalabi refuses to comment. Mr Zureikat confirmed to Agence France Presse in Jordan last week that he had made the oil deals."

Added in archive:
"French Sikhs Defend Their Turbans and Find Their Voice" (Thom Shanker, The New York Times/LibertyForum, 2004/02/12)

Monday, February 16, 2004

News and commentary:

"France's Forlorn Arabs" (Douglas, Last of the Famous International Playboys, 2004/02/16)
"We remember what happened to Aïssa Dermouche, the first Arab ever appointed prefect. We read the scathing remarks of recently naturalized US citizen Farid Laroussi. Now this: in an editorial that has shot up the list of reader-recommended articles on Le Monde's Web site (okay, I pressed the button 40 times), the editors write:

National upset over the veil, ghettoized areas at the city limits, the temptations of radical Islam and anti-Semitic violence, sectarian misbehavior, unemployment rates sometimes twice the national average, feelings of hopelessness, alienation, anti-Arab racism, etc. This is not an exhaustive list of urban, social, economic and sentimental pathologies that painfully affect a large share of those French citizens who "come from immigration," those we also call "beurs" or "blacks." Even a Martian would understand that in the last 25 to 30 years France has totally failed — under all of its governments — in integrating a portion of its nationals and that France is still paying for this colossal failure at the very moment that it seeks through its foreign policy to maintain a generous attitude that values common development and openness to the Other...

There's no need to be a great sociologist to grasp the fact that this matter is at the heart of our national malaise. It is feeding dangerous extremisms. Our claim to have built a "social model," which — unlike the the "anglo-saxon" liberal nightmare — would supposedly leave few people by the wayside, is being led seriously astray. This is undermining our credibility abroad, as France seems to be preaching abroad what it doesn't know how to practice at home.

Not a single representative in the Assemblée Nationale is an Arab though Arabs constitute a minority of around 10% (or six million people) of the French population. No Arab mayors, either (and there are 36,000 opportunities to have one). Nor are there any in the Senate."

"AQ Khan suffers heart attack, condition critical" (HindustanTimes, 2004/02/16)
"Pakistan's top scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, involved in clandestine nuclear sales to "rogue states", has reportedly suffered a heart attack.
"Dr Khan is under treatment at his residence and his condition is stated to be critical," a local daily quoted officials of the of the hospital of the country's premier nuclear installation, Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) formerly headed by Khan, as saying. ...
The newspaper also quoted some family members of the other KRL nuclear scientists and officials as saying that the condition of Khan and his Dutch wife Hamdarina was 'bad.'"

"In Iraqi Towns, Electoral Experiment Finds Some Success" (Anthony Shadid, The Washington Post, 2004/02/16)
A must-read article on Tobin Bradley's electoral experiments in Iraq: "With a knack for improvisation and little help from Baghdad, Bradley, the political adviser for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Nasiriyah, has carried out what may stand as one of the most ambitious democratic experiments in Iraq's history, a project that goes to the heart of the debate about how Iraq's next government should be chosen. In the province of Dhi Qar, about 230 miles southeast of Baghdad and a backwater even by Iraq's standards, residents voting as families will have elected city councils in 16 of the 20 biggest cities by next month. Bradley will have organized 11, more than half of them this month.
At every turn, the elections have set precedents, some of them unanticipated. Voters have typically elected professionals rather than tribal or religious leaders, although the process has energized Islamic parties. Activists have gone door to door to organize women, who turned out in their largest numbers this past week in some of Iraq's most conservative towns." (Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan.)

Added in archive:
"Israel: Born of British Colonialism..." (zombie, 2004/02/10)
"Fascism at UC Berkeley: Muslim Student Association Disrupts Daniel Pipes Lecture" (Cinnamon Stillwell, ChronWatch, 2004/02/12)
"My Talk at UC-Berkeley" (Daniel Pipes, danielpipes.org, 2004/02/12)

See the archive for earlier news and commentary.

 

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Articles of the week

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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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