Archived news and commentary: April 4 - 10, 2005

2005/04/04 - 2005/04/10
2005/03/28 - 2005/04/03
2005/03/21 - 2005/03/27
2005/03/14 - 2005/03/20
2005/03/07 - 2005/03/13
2005/02/28 - 2005/03/06

› From 2001/09/11 -

Sunday, April 10, 2005

News and commentary:

"Hezbollah Seeks Legitimacy" (Donna Abu-Nasr, AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/04/10)
"BEIRUT, Lebanon - As its Syrian backers leave Lebanon, Hezbollah is seeking to transform its image domestically and in the West — from guerrilla group condemned as terrorist by the United States to political party respected for playing a serious, productive role in Lebanese politics.
As part of this attempted makeover, Hezbollah sent a senior representative to a meeting in Beirut last month with American and British intellectuals, including former government and intelligence officials, to talk about the group, which Washington accuses of killing hundreds of Americans in terror attacks in the 1980s.
"It was an opportunity for us to present our views and break the stereotypical image that Israel has propagated of the group," said Nawaf al-Mussawi, Hezbollah politburo member in charge of international relations, who fielded questions for three hours at the meeting.
Among those who attended were about eight Americans, including Graham Fuller, former deputy head of the CIA's National Intelligence Council, and Robert Muller, head of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, as well as about six Europeans, who also included former officials, said Alastair Crooke, director of the Britain-based Conflicts Forum.
The gathering was "not intended to produce recommendations and conclusions," said Crooke, whose group organized the meeting. 'It was about listening.'"

"Millions Said Going to Waste in Iraq Utilities" (T. Christian Miller, Los Angeles Times, 2005/04/10)
"BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials have crippled scores of water, sewage and electrical plants refurbished with U.S. funds by failing to maintain and operate them properly, wasting millions of American taxpayer dollars in the process, according to interviews and documents.
Hardest hit has been the effort to rebuild the country's water and sewage systems, a multibillion-dollar task considered among the most crucial components of the effort to improve daily life for Iraqis. Of more than 40 such plants run by the Iraqis, not one is being operated properly, according to Bechtel Group Inc., the contractor at work on the project. The power grid faces similar problems. U.S. officials said the Iraqis' inability to properly operate overhauled electrical plants contributed to widespread power shortages this winter. None of the 19 electrical facilities that has undergone U.S.-funded repair work is being run correctly, a senior American advisor said.
An internal memo by coalition officials in Iraq obtained by The Times says that throughout the country, renovated plants 'deteriorate quickly to an alarming state of disrepair and inoperability.'"

Saturday, April 9, 2005

News and commentary:

"Bolton's the One" (William Kristol, The Weekly Standard, from the 2005/04/18 issue)
"Despite Soros's millions and the Times's resources, the assault on Bolton has been pathetic. What does it amount to? He's a longtime U.N. skeptic -- appropriate, one would think, given the U.N.'s "Zionism is Racism" history during the Cold War, and its ineffectiveness (to be kind) in Rwanda in the '90s and in Sudan in this decade. But he's worse than a skeptic, the critics say: He has been disrespectful of the august body in which he will represent us. Why, he once joked, "The Secretariat Building in New York has 38 stories. If it lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference." Well, truer words were never spoken. ...
The case against Bolton is silly and weak. Democrats want to embrace it. Let them do so, and let Republicans make them pay a price. When Bolton is reported out of committee, Senator Frist should schedule floor debate without a time limit. Republican senators should challenge their Democratic counterparts to debate John Bolton's record, and the U.N.'s record, every day, for as long as the Democrats want. The Bush administration should put senior spokesmen on TV every night to engage in an argument over whose foreign policy is preferable for the country -- George Bush's or George Soros's. Republicans should welcome a discussion of whether the U.N. is just fine as it is, or requires tough-minded reform. In stimulating such a debate, Bolton would be doing yet another service to this country.
And then he can go to New York as ambassador to the United Nations and get to work chopping 10 stories off the Secretariat building."

"In Baghdad, Shiite Cleric Stages Anti-U.S. Protest" (AP/The New York Times, 2005/04/09)
When it comes to ingratitude, anti-American South Korean protestors probably take the prize. If it weren't for the Americans they are lambasting, they would eat grass in a destitute totalitarian state rather than demonstrating in a free, democratic and remarkably prosperous society. But this is also rather rich:
"BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Tens of thousands of Shiites marked the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad with a protest against American troops at the same square where jubilant crowds toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein two years ago.
The protesters back radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militiamen led uprisings last year against U.S. troops before signing truces with U.S.-led forces.
Held in the shadow of the Sheraton and Palestine hotels -- home to foreign journalists and contractors -- the protest reflected frustration both with the U.S. government, which is slowly handing security responsibilities to Iraqi forces, and anger toward the Sunni Arab-led insurgency.
"This huge gathering shows that the Iraqi people have the strength and faith to protect their country and liberate it from the occupiers," said protester Ahmed Abed, a 26-year-old who sells spare car parts."

Friday, April 8, 2005

News and commentary:

"Mourners fill St. Peter's Square..."
(Jerry Lampen, Reuters, 2005/04/08)
"Mourners fill St. Peter's Square during the funeral mass for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican April 8, 2005. The poor and the powerful of the earth rubbed shoulders to say their last goodbye to the Pope on Friday as the Vatican staged one of the most momentous funerals in history for the Polish Pontiff."

"Pope John Paul II Is Laid to Rest" (Victor L. Simpson, AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/04/08)
"VATICAN CITY - Presidents, prime ministers and kings joined pilgrims and prelates in St. Peter's Square on Friday to bid an emotional farewell to Pope John Paul II at a funeral service that drew millions to Rome for the largest gathering of the powerful and the humble in modern times.
Applause rang out in the wind-whipped square as John Paul's plain cypress coffin, adorned with a cross and an "M" for the Virgin Mary, was brought out from St. Peter's Basilica and placed on a carpet in front of the altar. The book of the Gospel was placed on the coffin and the wind lifted the pages.
After the Mass ended, bells tolled and 12 pallbearers with white gloves, white ties and tails presented the coffin to the crowd one last time, and then carried it on their shoulders back inside the basilica for burial — again to sustained applause from the hundreds of thousands in the square, including dignitaries from more than 100 countries.
Chants of "Santo! Santo!" — urging John Paul to be elevated to sainthood immediately — echoed in the square."

"Iraqi cameraman for CBS detained" (BBC News, 2005/04/08)
Well, CBS is probably just aiming for next years Pulitzer Prize:
"An Iraqi cameraman carrying credentials for the United States network CBS is being held on suspicion of rebel activity, the US military in Iraq said.
The cameraman suffered minor injuries during a battle in the northern town of Mosul on Tuesday between US soldiers and suspected insurgents, reports say.
The military said he had been standing near a rebel killed in the shootout.
The cameraman was detained because he may pose a "threat to coalition forces", according to the military.
He "will be processed as any other security detainee", it said in a statement on Friday."

"A Terrorist Appeal to the Left" (Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and Erick Stakelbeck, FrontPageMagazine, 2005/04/08)
"A recently released propaganda video by the Islamic extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir is quite revealing. Not only does the video demonstrate the group’s growing effort to package arguments in a manner designed to appeal to Westerners on the political left, but it also serves as a barometer of radical Muslim groups’ broader shift in rhetorical strategy.
The video, “Iraq: Past and Present Colonialism,” appears for the first twenty-seven minutes to be a standard leftist critique of the Iraq war, indistinguishable from Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. The slickly-produced video begins with the history of past colonialism in Iraq — including the Mongol conquest of the Middle East and British soldiers’ triumphant march into Baghdad after World War I — and attempts to situate the current conflict within the same colonialist paradigm. In one scene, vivid footage of torture at the Abu Ghraib prison and Iraqi civilian casualties is interspersed with clips of George W. Bush and Tony Blair talking about how they will bring “freedom” to the Iraqi people. ...
Will Hizb ut-Tahrir’s attempted seduction of left-of-center Westerners succeed? On the surface, leftists seem like unlikely allies for hardcore Islamists. On virtually every social issue — from the treatment of women and homosexuals to the proper place of religion in society — the leftist and Islamist positions could not be more divergent. Yet committed leftists’ hatred for the West can occasionally trump their liberal politics, causing them to search for allies in the unlikeliest of places."

"Middle East mythology" (Caroline Glick, The Jerusalem Post, 2005/04/08)
Glick on the Arab Human Development Report 2004:
"The report placed a large chunk of the blame for the Arab world's lack of economic progress and political freedom on Israel's creation in 1948 and US support for Israel's continued existence, as well as the US military presence in Iraq. ...
The notion that 300 million Arabs live under the jackboot because some 5 million Jews in Israel live in freedom and America supports our right to live in freedom is patently insane. So too, it is simply delusional to believe that 300 million Arabs are so bent out of shape by the fact that 2.3 million Palestinian Arabs purportedly have their freedoms curbed by Israel, that they willingly accept their regimes' right to enslave and impoverish them economically and spiritually. ...
That the rejection of Israel still forms a solid basis for Arab and Islamic unity was again made clear in a conference this week in Malaysia devoted to "Peace in Palestine." The conference gave itself a psychological warfare boost by inviting five anti-Israel Israeli and Jewish activists to participate in the proceedings. Led by Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi the participants called for an international "anti-Israeli apartheid" campaign demanding a total international boycott on Israel until a Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital and Israel becomes a non-Jewish state as a result of unlimited Arab immigration. The fact that the Arab and Muslim, (and Jewish) participants expressed views that were even more extreme than the rhetoric emanating from the PA is indicative of the source of the continued pressure for the indefinite prolongation of the Palestinian conflict with Israel." (See also: "Arabs Lift Their Voices" (Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times, 2005/04/07) and "Arab Human Development Report 2004: Towards Freedom in the Arab World" (UNDP, 2005/04/05))

Thursday, April 7, 2005

News and commentary:

"Indian Kashmiri Nasser Uddin (R) hugs his daughter..."
(Mian Khursheed, Reuters, 2005/04/07)
"Indian Kashmiri Nasser Uddin (R) hugs his daughter upon his arrival at Chakothi bus terminal after entering Pakistani-controlled Kashmir at Chakothi, at the Line of Control (LOC), about 58 kms (36 miles) south of Muzaffarabad, Kashmir April 7, 2005. Some crying with joy, two groups of Indian and Pakistani Kashmiris walked over 'Peace Bridge' on Thursday, breaking through the military line that has divided them and their land with blood for almost 60 years."

"Rebels Fail to Stop Kashmir's 'Caravan of Peace'" (Y.P. Rajesh and Tahir Ikram, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2005/04/07)
"PEACE BRIDGE, India-Pakistan border (Reuters) - Some crying with joy, 31 Pakistani Kashmiris crossed the "Peace Bridge" into Indian Kashmir on Thursday, marking the first bus service linking the divided Himalayan region since it was split by war almost 60 years ago.
"I can't control my emotion. I am setting foot in my motherland," said a tearful Shahid Bahar, a lawyer from the capital of Pakistan Kashmir, Muzaffarabad.
"I am coming here for the first time to meet my blood relations," said Bahar, whose father crossed over in 1949. "It was my dream. It is unbelievable. Everyone is here."
Attacks by Islamic separatists -- who have threatened to turn the buses into rolling coffins -- scared off some passengers but failed to derail one of the most significant and emotive steps in South Asia's unsteady peace process.
"The caravan of peace has started," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said as he sent off the Pakistan-bound bus in front of a crowd of thousands braving freezing drizzle at the Lion of Kashmir stadium in Srinagar, summer capital of Indian Kashmir and the region's heart and soul. "Nothing can stop it."
Separatists tried, firing two rifle grenades at one of the Muzaffarabad-bound buses soon after it left. But no one was hurt, the bus was not hit and did not stop."

"Bomb in Cairo Tourist Bazaar Kills Two, Injures 18" (Jonathan Wright, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2005/04/07)
"CAIRO (Reuters) - A probable suicide bomb attack on Thursday in a Cairo bazaar popular with tourists killed a French woman and the bomber, Egyptian officials said.
The Interior Ministry said 18 people were wounded in the attack. Early investigations showed it was probably carried out by an Egyptian man whose remains had yet to be identified, cabinet spokesman Magdi Radi said.
"It resulted from the explosion of a charge prepared in a basic way containing gunpowder and nails," Radi said. "It is probable that the one who has yet to be identified was the source of the explosion."
The bomb went off in the el-Hussein area of medieval Cairo at about 5:45 p.m. (11:45 a.m. EDT). Police sealed off the road which was covered with shattered glass and shops were closed."

"Annan: U.N. Needs Permanent Rights Body" (Bradley S. Klapper, AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/04/07)
"GENEVA - The United Nations needs a new, permanent human rights body with greater authority, possibly on par with the powerful Security Council, to combat appalling abuses around the world, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Thursday.
Annan said in a speech to the 53-nation Human Rights Commission that the current structure is failing to do what is needed, particularly in Sudan's conflict-ravaged Darfur region.
"We have reached a point at which the commission's declining credibility has cast a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system as a whole, and where piecemeal reforms will not be enough," Annan told delegates, who responded with a standing ovation. ...
"The new human rights council must be a society of the committed. It must be more accountable and more representative," Annan said.
Current member states that have been widely criticized for abuses include China, Cuba, Nepal, Russia, Sudan and Zimbabwe."

"Iraq's new Kurd president sworn in" (AFP/Yahoo! News, 2005/04/07)
"BAGHDAD (AFP) - Former rebel leader Jalal Talabani took the oath of office as Iraq's first Kurdish president as the country's new government finally took shape more than two months after watershed elections.
Shiite Islamist Adel Abdel Mahdi and Sunni outgoing president Ghazi al-Yawar were sworn in as Talabani's two deputies completing a three-man presidency that was then expected to nominate a prime minister.
"We will rebuild the Iraqi government on principles of democracy, human rights... and the Islamic identity of the Iraqi government," Talabani, the country's first freely-elected president, told a special session of parliament.
The session was held in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone amid tight security. Bridges across the adjacent Tigris River were closed."

"Arabs Lift Their Voices" (Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times, 2005/04/07)
Friedman on the Arab Human Development Report 2004:
"The report notes that most Arab states today resemble "a 'black hole,' which converts its surrounding social environment into a setting in which nothing moves and from which nothing escapes." All political parties, institutions, courts, intelligence services, police and media are centralized in the hands of the Arab leader — that's why the "modern-day Arab state is frequently dubbed 'the intelligence state.' " What all these states have in common, the report says, "is that power is concentrated at the tip of the executive pyramid and that the margin of freedom permitted (which can be swiftly reduced) has no effect on the state's firm and absolute grip on power." But without a majority of people behind them, all of these Arab regimes lack legitimacy. ...
The report's authors conclude with their hope for a broad, peaceful redistribution of power in the Arab world, their fear that nothing will change — which they predict could lead to "chaotic upheavals" — and their expectation of some externally induced change and muddling through.
But the important thing about this report is that political reform is now being put on the Arab agenda by Arabs. Yes, it's scathing about the Western and Israeli roles in retarding Arab democratization, but it's equally scathing about what Arabs have done to themselves and how they must change — people don't change when you tell them they should, but when they tell themselves they must. Read this report and you'll also understand why part of every Arab hates the U.S. invasion of Iraq — and why another part is praying that it succeeds." (See also the report: "Arab Human Development Report 2004: Towards Freedom in the Arab World" (UNDP, 2005/04/05))

"Suppose we knew Iraq had no WMDs" (Amir Taheri, The Jerusalem Post, 2005/04/07)
"Now, let us imagine that the so-called intelligence community had reported in 2003 that Iraq was genuinely free of WMDs. That would not have changed the nature of the Ba'athist regime and Saddam's destabilizing strategy in the Middle East. Nor would the regime have ceased to be an almost daily calamity for the people of Iraq. With a narrow focus on WMDs the UN may have felt obliged to lift the sanctions on Iraq, thus liberating Saddam from the constraints that had forced him to rein in his deadly ambitions. Within a few years Iraq would have re-emerged as an even bigger threat and one far more difficult to contain, let alone eliminate.
A narrow view of intelligence as a snapshot of reality at any given time could prove counterproductive. Such a snapshot could show Saddam Hussein without any WMDs at a particular time, ignoring the fact that he had had them at some other points and may well have obtained them again if given the opportunity. The real WMD in Iraq was the Ba'athist regime and its machinery of oppression and war, which was found and dismantled."

"Lord Ahmed's unwelcome guest" (Stephen Pollard, The Times, 2005/04/07)
"Lord Ahmed, who has been a Labour life peer since 1998, is the first Muslim to have been so honoured. His presence in the House of Lords is symbolically important. His behaviour matters, both in the message it sends to his fellow Muslims and in what it represents to the rest of us. ...
On February 23, Lord Ahmed hosted a book launch in the House of Lords for a man going by the name of Israel Shamir. “Israel Shamir” is, in fact, a Swedish-domiciled anti-Semite also known as Jöran Jermas.
The gist of Shamir/Jermas’s speech at the meeting can be gleaned from its title, “Jews and the Empire”. It included observations such as: “All the [political] parties are Zionist-infiltrated.” “Your newspapers belong to Zionists . . . Jews indeed own, control and edit a big share of mass media, this mainstay of Imperial thinking.” “In the Middle East we have just one reason for wars, terror and trouble — and that is Jewish supremacy drive . . . in Iraq, the US and its British dependency continue the same old fight for ensuring Jewish supremacy in the Middle East.” “The Jews like an Empire . . . This love of Empire explains the easiness Jews change their allegiance . . . Simple minds call it ‘treacherous behaviour’, but it is actually love of Empire per se.” ...
Lord Ahmed’s refusal to condemn the remarks seems to indicate that he sees nothing wrong with inviting such a man to speak, or with the words Shamir/Jermas used." (See also: "A Labour anti-semite?" (Stephen Pollard, stephenpollard.net, 2005/03/22))

Wednesday, April 6, 2005

News and commentary:

"A Kurdish boy wears a makeshift hat..."
(Sasa Kralj, AP, 2005/04/06)
"A Kurdish boy wears a makeshift hat made from posters of new Iraqi interim President Jalal Talibani in downtown Sulaimaniyah, in northern Iraq Wednesday, April 6, 2005. The Iraqi parliament chose Kurdish leader Talabani, reaching out to the nation's long-repressed Kurdish minority and bringing the country closer to its first democratically elected government in 50 years."

"The monstrous regiment of university teachers" (Melanie Phillips, melaniephillips.com, 2005/04/06)
"If anyone had ever told British academics that there would come a time when they would punish colleagues because of the views they held, and would treat them as pariahs and try to destroy their livelihoods in order to intimidate others into toeing the sole approved political line, they would have been incredulous. In the western tradition the universities are, after all, the custodians of free intellectual inquiry and open debate. Censorship, suppression of ideas and intellectual intimidation are associated with totalitarian regimes which attempt to coerce people into the approved way of thinking.
Yet that is what is now happening in British universities -- and the pariah is, of course, Israel. As the Guardian reported yesterday, the Association of University Teachers is about to debate a proposed boycott of Israeli academics who refuse to denounce their government's policies in the occupied territories. But the motion will 'exclude "conscientious Israeli academics and intellectuals opposed to their state's colonial and racist policies".' So in true totalitarian tradition, those who denounce their own will be permitted to have a livelihood. Gee, thanks! To survive in the cradle of free expression, Israelis will have to betray their own people." (See also: "Lecturers may boycott Israeli academics" (Polly Curtis and Will Woodward, The Guardian, 2005/04/05))

"Kurdish Leader Named President in Iraq" (AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/04/06)
"BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Iraqi parliament chose Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as the country's new interim president Wednesday, reaching out to a long-repressed minority and bringing the country closer to its first democratically elected government in 50 years.
Ousted members of the former regime — including toppled leader Saddam Hussein — were to watch the announcement on televisions in their prison cells, Iraqi officials said. It wasn't clear if they would watch it live or on a tape.
Adel Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite, and interim President Ghazi al-Yawer, a Sunni Arab, were chosen as Talabani's two vice presidents. After weeks of at times tense negotiations, the three candidates received 227 votes. Thirty ballots were left blank.
The announcement of the vote drew applause, and many lawmakers crowded around Talabani to congratulate him. In the Kurdish north, which had led uprisings against Saddam, crowds danced in the streets, celebrating."

"Democrats of Mesopotamia" (Tony Blankley, The Washington Times, 2005/04/06)
"However they are managing it, the Iraqi politicians are moving deliberately and shrewdly toward the formation of a viable democratic government despite the jeering of the Washington pundits. For almost two years now, I have regularly appeared on television political talk shows with most of the anti-Bush brigade of Washington wise guys and gals. While many of them probably had never even heard of Sunnis, Shias and Kurds until the Iraq war, they all professed to be quite certain that these ancient divisions would surely lead Iraq into civil war after President Bush's blunder of overturning Saddam.
Their beating hearts seemed to catch the rhythm of the insurgent's bomb blasts -- their countenances looking increasingly more satisfied as the pace of the bomb blasts and their predictions of civil war came into an unholy unison. Of course, disloyalty, defeatism and demagoguery were the farthest things from their minds. They were just reporting without fear or favor -- or facts. I'm sure they will be delighted at the impending success of the Iraqi people in forming a democratic government -- and how that will reflect well on our president -- and will promptly admit how wrong they have been these last two years."

"Iraqis in Accord on Top Positions, Ending Deadlock" (Edward Wong, The New York Times, 2005/04/06)
"Iraq's major political parties agreed Tuesday evening to appoint a president and two vice presidents at a meeting of the national assembly on Wednesday, breaking a two-month deadlock in negotiations to form a new government, senior Iraqi officials said.
The assembly is expected to select Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish leader, as president; Adel Abdul Mahdi, a prominent Shiite Arab politician, as vice president; and Sheik Ghazi al-Yawar, the Sunni Arab president of the interim government, as the other vice president, said Hussein al-Shahristani, an assembly vice speaker.
The agreement ends a stark impasse between the main parties that had threatened to wreck the confidence built during the Jan. 30 elections, when Iraqis defied insurgent threats to walk in droves to polling stations."

Added in archive:
"Islam's grand wizard of deception" (Steven Emerson, WorldNetDaily, 2005/04/02)
"Mugged by la Réalité" (Olivier Guitta, The Weekly Standard, from the 2005/04/11 issue)

Tuesday, April 5, 2005

News and commentary:

"Saudi Forces Kill 14 Islamic Militants" (Adnan Malik, AP/My Way 2005/04/05)
"RASS, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Security forces stormed a walled compound Tuesday where Islamic militants had been barricaded for days, ending the kingdom's largest gunbattle yet and killing 14 armed extremists, including top leaders in the Saudi branch of al-Qaida.
At least six others were captured during three days of heavy firefights in the desert town of Rass, state-run television said, reporting the death toll and citing security officials after the battle was over. Fourteen members of the security forces were wounded. ...
The size and ferocity of the battle in Rass, 220 miles northwest of Riyadh, suggested the security forces had uncovered a major cell of the al-Qaida-linked militant networks that the kingdom has battled in a crackdown launched in 2003 following a string of deadly suicide bombings.
For nearly 48 hours, up to 10 gunmen who survived initial fighting Sunday were holed up in the villa compound with a large arsenal of weapons. Surrounded by hundreds of Saudi special forces, they fired heavy volleys of automatic weapons fire and grenades."

"Ariel Sharon's Folly" (Daniel Pipes, FrontPageMagazine, 2005/04/05)
"With the passage last week of a budget bill in Israel, the government of Ariel Sharon appears to be ready to remove over 8,000 Israelis living in Gaza, if necessary with force.
In addition to the legal dubiousness of this step and its historical unprecedented nature (challenge to the reader: name another democracy that has forcibly removed thousands its own citizens from their lawful homes), the planned withdrawal of all Israeli installations from Gaza amounts to an act of monumental political folly. ...
First, because the decision to retreat from Gaza took place in the context of heightened violence against Israelis, it vindicates those Palestinian voices arguing for terrorism. The Gaza retreat is, in plain words, a military defeat. It follows on the ignominious Israeli abandonment of its positions and its allies in Lebanon in May 2000, a move which much eroded Arab respect for Israeli strength, with dire consequences. The Gaza withdrawal will almost certainly increase Palestinian reliance on terrorism. ...
Sharon betrayed the voters who supported him, wounding Israeli democracy. He divided Israeli society in ways that may poison the body politic for decades hence. He aborted his own successful policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians. He delivered Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim rejectionists their greatest boost ever. And he failed his American ally by delivering a major victory to the forces of terrorism."

"Soldier Killed in Iraq Gets Medal of Honor" (Peter Baker, The Washington Post, 2005/04/05)
"Ambushed, outnumbered and under fire, Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith took matters into his own hands. Jumping on top of an armored vehicle in place of its injured crew, he aimed a .50-caliber machine gun at the advancing Iraqi Republican Guard and opened fire.
By the time he had gone through three ammunition belts, the enemy attack had been repulsed and his unit saved. According to the Army's official account, Smith single-handedly killed 20 to 50 enemy soldiers and saved 100 of his own. The only American to die in the skirmish that night outside Baghdad was Smith, struck down by a bullet to the head.
Now, two years to the day after the firefight that cost him his life, the United States has certified its first official hero from the Iraq war. In an emotional ceremony in the East Room of the White House yesterday, President Bush posthumously awarded Smith the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest recognition for bravery in combat and a medal issued so rarely that no U.S. soldier has received it since an ill-fated mission in Somalia a dozen years ago."

"Zarqawi Said to Be Behind Iraq Raid" (Ellen Knickmeyer, The Washington Post, 2005/04/05)
"Insurgent groups led by foreigners and Iraqis asserted Monday that guerrilla leader Abu Musab Zarqawi's organization was responsible for a major assault on Abu Ghraib prison Saturday that U.S. officers called one of the most sophisticated attacks of the insurgency. ...
In an interview, Iraqi insurgent leaders said the assault was carried out by Zarqawi's group, al Qaeda in Iraq. The claim was also made in the name of the group on a radical Islamic Web site. The group's numerous attacks had until now largely involved suicide bombings, car bombings and kidnappings rather than direct confrontations with U.S. forces. ...
If Zarqawi was behind the attack, it was unclear where or when his movement acquired the tactical expertise to directly confront U.S. Marines. Abu Jalal denied that former military officers in Mohammed's Army had served as advisers, saying, "It was 100 percent Zarqawi." The statement on the radical Web site said "sources with the enemy" had helped provide information to plot the attack.
Abu Jalal said the attack had been launched to free a commander of Zarqawi's group and associates held at Abu Ghraib."

Monday, April 4, 2005

News and commentary:

"Baghdad - A gunman, left, shoots an Iraqi election worker..."
(AP, 2004/12/19)
Pulitzer Prize 2005: "Baghdad - A gunman, left, shoots an Iraqi election worker during an attack on Haifa Street, a base of Sunni Arab insurgents. About 30 men attacked a car carrying five of the workers, executing three at point blank range. (Photo by AP stringer, December 19, 2004.)"

"Pulitzer Prize Given to Terrorists" (Rusty Shackleford, The Jawa Report, 2005/04/04)
"The Pulitzer Prize has been "Awarded to the Associated Press Staff for its stunning series of photographs of bloody yearlong combat inside Iraqi cities."
What photographs won for Breaking News Photography?
The 20 photographs can be found here.
5 of the 20 photos were taken by journalists who were working with terrorist forces. 11 of the 20 photos would likely cause anti-American inflamation. Only two show Americans in a positive light. Three more show the victims of terrorism.
Included in the 5 photos are 1 photo taken by Bilal Hussein [more background on Bilal Hussein here and here] of terrorist forces firing at the U.S. in Fallujah. Another photo identified as taken by a 'stringer' shows terrorists murdering an Iraqi election worker. Both of these photos are by individuals who saw Geneva Convention crimes and did nothing to stop them. Both photos indicate also that the individuals who took them had prior knowledge to the crimes being committed."

"Three Cheers for the Bush Doctrine" (Charles Krauthammer, TIME, 2005/04/04)
Krauthammer on the Arab spring: "Why now? Because until now the forces of decency in the region were alone and naked, cynically ignored by an outside world content to deal with their oppressors. Then comes America, not just proclaiming democratic liberation as its overriding foreign policy principle but sacrificing blood and treasure in the service of precisely that principle.
It was not people power that set this in motion. It was American power. People power followed. Which is why the critics of the Bush doctrine take refuge in a second Bush-free explanation. They locate the reason for this astonishing Arab spring, if not in people power from below, then in rot from above. These superannuated dictatorships, we are now told, were fossilized and frail, already wobbly and ready to fall, just waiting to be undone by the slightest challenge.
Interesting. If the rot was always there, why is it that these critics never said so before? ...
It took this marriage of power, will and principle to produce the astonishing developments in the Middle East today. This is not to say that this spring cannot be extinguished. Of course it can. The dictators can still strike back, and we may flinch in defense of those they strike. History has yet to yield a verdict on the final outcome. But it has yielded one unmistakable verdict thus far: the idea that Arabs are not fit for or inclined toward freedom -- the underlying assumption of those who denounced, ridiculed and otherwise opposed the democracy project -- is wrong. Embarrassingly, scandalously, blessedly wrong."

"The California Suicide Bomber" (Daniel Pipes, FrontPageMagazine/danielpipes.org, 2005/04/04)
"According to a remarkable article by Scott Macleod in the April 4 issue of Time Magazine, the suicide bomber who carried off the worst atrocity in Iraq since the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime was a 32-year-old Jordanian who had lived for two years in California. ...
As Time cautiously concludes from this tale,

On the basis of accounts given by his family, friends and neighbors, Ra'ed apparently led a double life, professing affection for America while secretly preparing to join the holy war against the U.S. in Iraq. "Something went wrong with Ra'ed, and it is a deep mystery," says his father Mansour, 56. "What happened to my son?"

Ra'ed al-Banna's biography inspires several observations:
(1) When it comes to Islamist terrorists, appearances often deceive. That Banna was said to "love life in America," be "not very religious," and be interested in "building a future for himself" obviously indicated nothing about his real thinking and purposes. The same pattern recurs in the biographies of many other jihadis.
(2) Moving to the West often spurs Muslims to despise the West more than they did before they got there. This appears to be what happened with Banna.
(3) Taking up the Islamist cause, even to the point of sacrificing one's life for it, usually happens in a discreet manner, quite unobservable even to a person's closest relatives.
In brief, Banna's evolution confirms the point I have made repeatedly about the regrettable but urgent need to keep an eye on all potential Islamists and jihadis, which is to say Muslims."

"Jihad Jane and the Jews" (Mike S. Adams, Town Hall, 2005/04/04)
"For weeks, I have toyed with the idea of writing a column about Ward Churchill. I just can't seem to muster the energy. Maybe it's because there are so many professors here in North Carolina who are every bit as crazy and incompetent as the now infamous Colorado professor.
For example, there is Jane Christensen who teaches at North Carolina Wesleyan College. One look at her webpage makes me proud to be a Methodist.
It isn't really the picture of Jane holding an M-16 with a black hood over her head that bothers me. I am more bothered by her refusal to return my phone calls so we can discuss the content of her web page and some of her courses. Her webpage links to some interesting articles, which say some interesting things. An example follows:

"America is fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq under Zionist control... Jews rule America (and most of the world) by proxy. They trick us into fighting and dying for THEM. Politicians of the 'free world' are too cowardly to oppose Zionism." ...

Before you conclude that Professor Christensen's site recommends only anti-Semitic readings, note the following:

"The invasion of Iraq in March 2003 by coalition forces has lead to the death of at least 100,000 civilians, reveals the first scientific study...of almost 1000 households scattered across Iraq."

You read that correctly. A scientific study "of almost 1000 households" determined that we killed 100,000 civilians in Iraq before the November election." (Hat tip: Rochi Ebner. See also: "100,000 Dead — or 8,000" (Fred Kaplan, Slate, 2004/10/29))

"Syrians Promise to Quit Lebanon by Month's End" (Dexter Filkins, The New York Times, 2005/04/04)
"A United Nations envoy said Sunday that Syria's leaders had promised to pull out all of their military and intelligence forces from Lebanon by the end of the month, before the nationwide elections scheduled for late May.
In a statement, Terje Roed-Larsen, the United Nations envoy to Lebanon, said the Syrian foreign minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, had assured him that "all Syrian troops, military assets and the intelligence apparatus will have been withdrawn fully and completely" by April 30. Mr. Roed-Larsen issued the statement after meeting with Mr. Sharaa and President Bashar al-Assad.
The withdrawal of Syrian forces, which have occupied parts of Lebanon since 1976, is one of the central demands of the Lebanese opposition, whose supporters have staged huge rallies over the past six weeks demanding that Syria withdraw."

"Iraq crisis ends as speaker elected" (Rory Carroll and Michael Howard, The Guardian, 2005/04/04)
"Iraq broke its political deadlock yesterday when parliament finally elected a speaker and paved the way for forming a new government nine weeks after the country's election.
Deputies appeared relieved and buoyant after selecting Hajem al-Hassani, a Sunni Arab who is currently industry minister, to chair the 275-seat assembly and belatedly open the next phase of naming a presidential council and cabinet and writing a constitution.
Some party leaders said a government would be formed within days, but continued wrangling between the Shia and Kurdish blocs which won the January 30 poll could leave the prime minister, Ayad Allawi's, caretaker administration to limp on for several more weeks.
"We passed the first hurdle," said Mr Hassani. 'The Iraqi people have proven that they can overcome the political crisis that has plagued the country for the last two months.'"

See the archive for earlier news and commentary.

 

 

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Articles of the week

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

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

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

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

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

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From the archives

Oriana Fallaci, R.I.P.

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

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

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

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

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