Archived news and commentary: November 21 - 27, 2005

2005/11/21 - 2005/11/27
2005/11/14 - 2005/11/20
2005/11/07 - 2005/11/13
2005/10/31 - 2005/11/06
2005/10/24 - 2005/10/30
2005/10/17 - 2005/10/23

› From 2001/09/11 -

Sunday, November 27, 2005

News and commentary:

"Iran Leader's Radicalism Angering Allies" (Ali Akbar Dareini, AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/11/27)
Proportions. The debate on "Torture, American-Style" — the heading on David Luban's essay in todays Washington Post — is certainly important, but shouldn't there be at least as much concern about Mahmoud "Israel must be wiped off the map" Ahmadinejad and the prospect of an ultra-extremist fundamentalistic Iran going nuclear?
For me, the extreme radicalization of Iran seems much more alarming than, well, anything else really. I mean, if you are apoplectic over Bush's "fundamentalism", shouldn't you be even more so about a fundamentalistic regime which is far more extreme by all possible standards?
Take for example the current front page of Andrew Sullivan's blog, which covers the period from November 11 until today. The word "torture" is found no less than 88 times. Iran is mentioned 10 times.
An educated guess is that the ratio is even worse than 1:9 on The Daily Kos & Co, because Sullivan is in fact covering Iran quite frequently and admirably. [emphasis added]:
"TEHRAN, Iran - Critics say the 1980s-style radicalism of ultraconservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is hurting Iran at home and abroad — to the point that even his natural allies in parliament have rejected his three choices to run the all-important oil ministry.
The Islamic hard-liner appears undeterred, but pragmatists in the ruling hierarchy are growing restless and looking for ways to contain him.
"Ahmadinejad's behavior has annoyed many fellow conservatives. That he doesn't like to consult with anybody outside his small circle of old friends is a reality," said Ghodratollah Rahmani, a conservative writer.
"He doesn't consult even with knowledgeable people in his own camp."
Even extremists within the hard-line camp want Ahmadinejad to be more responsive to their advice. ...
The former Tehran mayor's aim is to install a new generation of rulers who will revive the radical fundamentalist goals pursued in the 1980s under the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, father of the 1979 revolution that toppled Iran's pro-Western shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
All pragmatists, including those seeking better ties with the West, have either lost their posts or likely will lose them soon, pushing the government toward an ever more radical stance in the already volatile Middle East and in the international dispute over Iran's nuclear program, which the United States believes is seeking to build weapons."

"My battle with liberal Britain" (Shaun Bailey, The Sunday Times, 2005/11/27)
"I come from a black working-class environment, born and brought up by my single mother on the North Kensington estates in London. Where I live the peer pressure to offend surrounds you. Crime is everywhere. The teenage pregnancy rate is well above the national average. There is a drugs epidemic. There are significant mental health and disability issues. Most people remain trapped. ...
The level of crime on the estates was already astonishing, but over the past four years the levels of violence with drugs, guns and knives among the younger kids has got much worse.
Eight years ago it would have been fantasy stuff to carjack. Four years ago maybe you would have found one person who’d entertain it and everybody would have thought he was a lunatic. Now I could show you at least 15 people who would consider it, 10 or 15 who would do it and five who have done it. ...
Crime starts younger, spreads wider and goes further. The number of kids growing out of crime is getting smaller. It’s why we get this horrible stuff with guns and knives: the serious nature of their offences is growing as the percentage of kids staying in crime rises.
The real scary thing is the young age at which it happens. Serious criminals used to be in their late twenties. If you came into my area and interviewed my boys, they have been involved in quite horrible stuff and they are not yet 16 or 17." (Hat tip: Melanie Phillips.)

"Panic Is Not The Solution" (Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek, 2005/12/05)
Iraq IV: "Many Democrats are understandably enraged by an administration that has acted in an unethical, highly partisan and largely incompetent fashion in Iraq. But in responding in equally partisan fashion they could well precipitate a tragedy.":
"The rising clamor in Washington to get out of Iraq may be right or may be wrong, but one thing is certain: its timing has little to do with events in that country. Iraq today is no worse off than it was three months ago, or a year ago. Nor has there been a sudden spike in the numbers of American troops being killed. In fact, in some ways things have improved recently. What's driving this debate, however, are events in America. President Bush's approval rating has plummeted, battered by Iraq but also by Hurricane Katrina. The Democrats, sensing weakness, are trying to draw blood. But the result is a debate that is oddly timed. Iraq is in the midst of full-scale political campaigning and is three weeks from a crucial election, the first in which there will be large-scale Sunni participation. This will also be the first election to yield a government with real — and lasting — powers. (It will have a four-year term, compared with the last two governments, which had six months each.) Just as our Iraq policy has been getting on a firmer footing, the political dynamic in Washington could move toward a panicked withdrawal."

"Middle East Surprises" (Jim Hoagland, The Washington Post, 2005/11/27)
"Call it history's revenge or the Nixon-goes-to-China syndrome run amok: Events in the Middle East now force political leaders to eat vows never to do certain things and then pronounce the dish tasty. Their reversals carry seeds of hope for a desperate region.
The Bush administration promised never, ever to nation-build or to engage itself deeply in pushing Israelis and Palestinians to make peace. Yet Washington undertakes both, with mixed but valuable advances in Iraq and in the flickering peace process.
Israel's warrior-politician, Ariel Sharon, is abandoning his Likud Party and taking risks by advancing visible concessions to Palestinians. In Egypt, Hosni Mubarak -- who once told an American diplomat that democratic reforms were a good concept but would not happen while he ruled -- is haltingly and spitefully letting his system become more open as pressure for democratic change spreads in other Arab lands.
A significant terrorist attack in Israel or a sudden whim by Egypt's aging autocrat could stymie the reversals I cite. Yes, it is still the Middle East.
"But it is a Middle East in which those who believe in democracy and civil society are finally actors, even though we still face big obstacles," says Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Egypt's battle-scarred democratic activist.
Ibrahim originally opposed the invasion of Iraq. But it "has unfrozen the Middle East, just as Napoleon's 1798 expedition did. Elections in Iraq force the theocrats and autocrats to put democracy on the agenda, even if only to fight against us. Look, neither Napoleon nor President Bush could impregnate the region with political change. But they were able to be the midwives," Ibrahim told me in Washington."

"Shiite Cleric Increases His Power in Iraq" (Edward Wong, The New York Times, 2005/11/27)
Iraq III: "Men loyal to Moktada al-Sadr piled out of their cars at a plantation near Baghdad on a recent morning, bristling with Kalashnikov rifles and eager to exact vengeance on the Sunni Arab fighters who had butchered one of their Shiite militia brothers.
When the smoke cleared after the fight, at least 21 bodies lay scattered among the weeds, making it the deadliest militia battle in months. The black-clad Shiites swaggered away, boasting about the carnage.
Even as that battle raged on Oct. 27, Mr. Sadr's aides in Baghdad were quietly closing a deal that would signal his official debut as a kingmaker in Iraqi politics, placing his handpicked candidates on the same slate - and on equal footing - with the Shiite governing parties in the December parliamentary elections. The country's rulers had come courting him, and he had forced them to meet his terms.
Wielding violence and political popularity as tools of his authority, Mr. Sadr, the Shiite cleric who has defied the American authorities here since the fall of Saddam Hussein, is cementing his role as one of Iraq's most powerful figures."

"Abuse worse than under Saddam, says Iraqi leader" (Peter Beaumont, The Observer, 2005/11/27)
Iraq II: "Human rights abuses in Iraq are now as bad as they were under Saddam Hussein and are even in danger of eclipsing his record, according to the country's first Prime Minister after the fall of Saddam's regime.
'People are doing the same as [in] Saddam's time and worse,' Ayad Allawi told The Observer. 'It is an appropriate comparison. People are remembering the days of Saddam. These were the precise reasons that we fought Saddam and now we are seeing the same things.'
In a damning and wide-ranging indictment of Iraq's escalating human rights catastrophe, Allawi accused fellow Shias in the government of being responsible for death squads and secret torture centres. The brutality of elements in the new security forces rivals that of Saddam's secret police, he said. ...
'We are hearing about secret police, secret bunkers where people are being interrogated,' he added. 'A lot of Iraqis are being tortured or killed in the course of interrogations. We are even witnessing Sharia courts based on Islamic law that are trying people and executing them.'"

"Shiite Urges U.S. to Give Iraqis Leeway In Rebel Fight" (Ellen Knickmeyer, The Washington Post, 2005/11/27)
Iraq I: "The leader of Iraq's most powerful political party has called on the United States to let Iraqi fighters take a more aggressive role against insurgents, saying his country will only be able to defeat the insurgency when the United States lets Iraqis get tough.
"The more freedom given to Iraqis, the more chance for further progress there would be, particularly in fighting terror," said Abdul Aziz Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the Shiite Muslim religious party that leads the transitional government and whose armed wing is the most feared of Iraq's many factional forces.
Instead, Hakim asserted in a rare interview late last week, the United States is tying Iraq's hands in the fight against insurgents. ...
The Americans are guilty of "major interference, and preventing the forces of the Interior or Defense ministries from carrying out tasks they are capable of doing, and also in the way they are dealing with the terrorists," Hakim charged. ...
His repeated assertion that the United States was being too weak against Iraq's insurgency, allowing attacks to mushroom, appeared to suggest that any future Iraqi government that included him would share his view."

"Giant mosque for 40,000 may be built at London Olympics" (The Sunday Times, 2005/11/27)
"A massive mosque that will hold 40,000 worshippers is being proposed beside the Olympic complex in London to be opened in time for the 2012 Games.
The project’s backers hope the mosque and its surrounding buildings would hold a total of 70,000 people, only 10,000 fewer than the Olympic stadium.
Its futuristic design features wind turbines instead of the traditional minarets, while a translucent latticed roof would replace the domes seen on most mosques. The complex is designed to become the “Muslim quarter” for the Games, acting as a hub for Islamic competitors and spectators.
“It will be something never seen before in this country. It is a mosque for the future as part of the British landscape,” said Abdul Khalique, a senior member of Tablighi Jamaat, a worldwide Islamic missionary group that is proposing the mosque as its new UK headquarters.
Tablighi Jamaat has come under scrutiny from western security agencies since 9/11. Two years ago, according to The New York Times, a senior FBI anti-terrorism official claimed it was a recruiting ground for Al-Qaeda. British police investigated a report that Mohammad Sidique Khan, leader of the July 7 London bombers, had attended its present headquarters in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. In August, Bavaria expelled three members of the organisation on the grounds that it promoted Islamic extremism." (Note: For more on Tablighi Jamaat, see also: "Tablighi Jamaat: Jihad's Stealthy Legions" (Alex Alexiev, Middle East Quarterly, January 2005))

Saturday, November 26, 2005

News and commentary:

"Gays face hormone treatment" (Jim Krane, News24.com, 2005/11/26)
"Dubai - More than two dozen gay Arab men - arrested at what police called a mass homosexual wedding - could face government-ordered hormone treatments, five years in jail and a lashing, authorities said on Saturday.
The Interior Ministry said police raided a hotel chalet earlier this month and arrested 22 men from the Emirates as they celebrated the mass wedding ceremony - one of a string of recent group arrests of homosexuals here.
The men are likely to be tried under Muslim law on charges related to adultery and prostitution, said Interior Ministry spokesperson Issam Azouri. ...
Azouri said the Interior Ministry's department of social support would try to direct the men away from homosexual behaviour, including treatment with male hormones.
"Because they've put society at risk they will be given the necessary treatment, from male hormone injections to psychological therapies," he said." (Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan.)

"How did we forget that Israel's story is the story of the West?" (Charles Moore, The Daily Telegraph, 2005/11/26)
"Israel, which was attacked, has come to be seen as the aggressor. Israel, which has elections that throw governments out and independent commissions that investigate people like Sharon and condemn him, became regarded as the oppressive monster. In a rhetoric that tried to play back upon Jews their own experience of suffering, supporters of the Palestinian cause began to call Israelis Nazis. Holocaust Memorial Day is disapproved of by many Muslims because it ignores the supposedly comparable "genocide" of the Palestinians.
Western children of the Sixties like this sort of talk. They look for a narrative based on the American civil rights movement or the struggle against apartheid. They care little for economic achievement or political pluralism. They are suspicious of any society with a Western appearance, and in any contest between people with differing skin colours, they prefer the darker. They buy into the idea, now promoted by all Arab regimes and by Muslim firebrands with a permanent interest in deflecting attention from their own societies' problems, that Israel is the greatest problem of all.
Well, some will say, that is the way it is: Israel has abused power, and is reaping the whirlwind. I don't want to argue today about the rights and wrongs of Israel's actions, though I think, given its difficulties, it stands up better than most before the bar of history. All I want to ask my fellow Europeans is this: are you happy to help direct the world's fury at the only country in the Middle East whose civilisation even remotely resembles yours? And are you sure that the fate of Israel has no bearing on your own? In Iran, the new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad makes the link. The battle over Palestine, he says, is "the prelude of the battle of Islam with the world of arrogance", the world of the West. He is busy building his country's nuclear bomb."

"Fundamentalism in French Workplace" (Sebastian Rotella, Los Angeles Times, 2005/11/26)
"PARIS — Employees set up clandestine prayer areas on the grounds of the Euro Disney resort.
Workers for a cargo firm at Charles de Gaulle airport praise the Sept. 11 attacks.
A Brinks technician is charged with pulling off a million-dollar heist for a Moroccan terrorist group allegedly led by his brother. Female converts to Islam operate a day-care center that authorities eventually shut down because of its religious radicalism.
As France grapples with the rise of Islamic extremism abroad and at home, the line between legitimate religious expression and extremist subversion can be blurry. But a recent study by a think tank here paints a picture of rising fundamentalism in the workplace, ranging from proselytizing to pressure tactics to criminal activities.
In companies such as supermarket chains in immigrant-heavy areas, for instance, militant recruiters cause workplace tensions by imposing fundamentalist ideas on co-workers and pressuring managers to boycott certain products, the study says.
On a more sinister level, the study asserts that Islamic networks are trying to establish a presence in firms involved in sectors such as security, cargo, armored cars, courier services and transportation. Once they gain a foothold, operatives raise funds for militants via theft, embezzlement and robbery, the study alleges."

Friday, November 25, 2005

News and commentary:

"The Truth about Torture" (Charles Krauthammer, The Weekly Standard, 2005/12/04)
"However rare the cases, there are circumstances in which, by any rational moral calculus, torture not only would be permissible but would be required (to acquire life-saving information). ...
That is why the McCain amendment, which by mandating "torture never" refuses even to recognize the legitimacy of any moral calculus, cannot be right. There must be exceptions. The real argument should be over what constitutes a legitimate exception.
Let's Take An Example that is far from hypothetical. You capture Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Pakistan. He not only has already killed innocents, he is deeply involved in the planning for the present and future killing of innocents. He not only was the architect of the 9/11 attack that killed nearly three thousand people in one day, most of them dying a terrible, agonizing, indeed tortured death. But as the top al Qaeda planner and logistical expert he also knows a lot about terror attacks to come. He knows plans, identities, contacts, materials, cell locations, safe houses, cased targets, etc. What do you do with him?
We have recently learned that since 9/11 the United States has maintained a series of "black sites" around the world, secret detention centers where presumably high-level terrorists like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed have been imprisoned. The world is scandalized. ...
I myself have not gnashed a single tooth. My garments remain entirely unrent. Indeed, I feel reassured. It would be a gross dereliction of duty for any government not to keep Khalid Sheikh Mohammed isolated, disoriented, alone, despairing, cold and sleepless, in some godforsaken hidden location in order to find out what he knew about plans for future mass murder. What are we supposed to do? Give him a nice cell in a warm Manhattan prison, complete with Miranda rights, a mellifluent lawyer, and his own website?"

"Dis-United Kingdom: Multiculturalism isn't working" (Leo McKinstry, The Weekly Standard, 2005/12/04)
"In truth, Britain is now a deeply divided land, where suspicion, intolerance, and aggression cast their shadow over urban areas. Only the other day, the government revealed that, in the last twelve months, the number of prosecutions for racial hate crimes had risen by 30 percent. In a courageous recent speech, Trevor Phillips, a black broadcaster who now serves as the chairman of Britain's Commission for Racial Equality, warned that the country is "sleepwalking towards segregation," with society ever more fragmented by ethnicity and religion. Using remarkably frank language, Phillips added that parts of some cities will soon be "black holes into which no one goes without fear."
This sorry situation has been created by a deliberate act of public policy. For the last three decades, in response to waves of mass immigration, the civic institutions of Britain have eagerly implemented the ideology of multiculturalism. Instead of promoting a cohesive British identity, they have encouraged immigrant communities to cling to the customs, traditions, and language of their countries of origin. ...
Britain is fast replacing nationhood with a hierarchy of victimhood, with different ethnic groups living in conflict, each trumpeting its own sense of grievance. Age-old liberties, like freedom of speech, are disappearing; a play in Birmingham was recently closed down because a mob of Sikhs threatened to destroy the theater, claiming to be offended by the content of the production. Meanwhile, the endless British accommodation of Islamic extremism, in the name of racial tolerance, has allowed terrorism to flourish in our midst. According to one recent survey, 13 percent of British Muslims support home-grown terrorism, a terrifying thought given that there are 1.6 million Muslims in Britain.
Multiculturalism is not the road that France should go down. Bomb-scarred Britain proves that integration is not achieved by exacerbating racial division and institutional self-hatred."

"Padilla in Court: When did he become the 21st century's Alger Hiss?" (The Wall Street Journal, 2005/11/25)
"It's hard to pinpoint the precise moment when Jose Padilla became a liberal icon in the war on terror. ... Somewhere along the way, Padilla became a symbol -- not of the sort of threat we are up against in the war on terror, but as a victim of the U.S. government.":
"If the Administration has gathered enough evidence it can use in open court to convict Padilla, that's a much-to-be-hoped-for outcome. At the same time, a criminal indictment has the regrettable effect of taking the focus off the vital constitutional principle at issue here.
This is already happening, as seen by liberal reaction to Padilla's indictment, the general gist of which is that the Administration has "finally" found something with which to charge him. The implication -- contrary to what the courts have ruled -- is that he is an innocent man held illegally for three and a half years. It's more accurate to say that whatever intelligence Padilla could have provided by holding him for interrogation has already been gathered, so the need to keep him under wraps has ended.
The Administration is blasted, too, for not having indicted Padilla on the original dirty-bomb accusations or on the charges, made public in June 2004, that he was plotting to blow up high-rise apartment buildings in the U.S. However, protection of intelligence sources and methods makes presenting evidence on those accusations difficult without compromising national security, and in any event a conviction on other terrorism charges would still be a conviction. Mobster Al Capone went to jail for tax evasion.
We'd also note the irony that the indictment of Padilla that liberals are now celebrating (albeit in mocking fashion) was only possible because of a liberal taboo. As Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday, the evidence needed for a criminal prosecution was obtained because of 'vital provisions of the USA Patriot Act.'"

Thursday, November 24, 2005

News and commentary:

"An Iraqi girl looks at US soldiers..."
(Mauricio Lima, AFP, 2005/11/24)
"An Iraqi girl looks at US soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment after receiving a puppet given by them while patrolling a neighborhood southwest of Baghdad. The Iraqi army said it had seized a number of booby-trapped children's dolls, accusing insurgents of using the explosive-filled toys to target children."

"Iraq army seizes booby-trapped toy dolls" (AFP/Yahoo! News, 2005/11/24)
Iraq II: "The Iraqi army said it had seized a number of booby-trapped children's dolls, accusing insurgents of using the explosive-filled toys to target children.
The dolls were found in a car, each one containing a grenade or other explosive, said an army statement. The government said that two men driving the car had been arrested in the western Baghdad district of
Abu Ghraib.
"This is the same type of doll as that handed out on several occasions by US soldiers to children," said government spokesman Leith Kubba.
It was not immediately clear when the find was made or the suspects arrested."

"Suicide Car Bomber Kills 30 in Iraq" (Chris Tomlinson, AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/11/24)
Iraq I: "A suicide bomber blew up his car outside a hospital south of Baghdad on Thursday while U.S. troops handed out candy and food to children, killing 30 people and wounding about 40, including four Americans. ...
Three women and two children were among the dead in the attack outside the hospital in Mahmoudiya, a flashpoint town 20 miles south of Baghdad in the "triangle of death" notorious for attacks on Shiite Muslims, U.S. troops and foreign travelers.
A civil affairs team from the U.S. Army's Task Force Baghdad was at the hospital studying ways to upgrade the facility when the bomber struck just outside the guarded compound, a U.S. military statement said.
Some American soldiers were distributing toys and food to children when the attack occurred about 10:40 a.m., Iraqi police Maj. Falah al-Mohammedawi said.
"There was an explosion at the gate of the hospital," sobbed one woman with wounds on her face and legs. 'My children are gone. My brother is gone.'"

"The Muslim Brotherhoods plan for the conquest of the world" (Le Temps/The Daily Ablution, 2005/11/24)
A translation of the French original: "In November 2001, in the course of a search, Swiss investigators discovered the "Project": an ambitious strategy designed to "establish the reign of God" over the entire Earth.
Is it possible that the development of world Islamism over the last 20 years is, at least in part, the product of a secret strategy, a deliberate plan to take power? That's the politically incorrect question raised by the surprising discovery made by the Swiss and Italian police during a search carried out near Lugano, in November 2001.
In a villa belonging to Youssef Nada, an Egyptian banker that the American authorities accuse of having supported terrorism, the investigators seized an amazing document, kept secret for nearly two decades: the "Project", a strategic text of which the ultimate goal is "the establishment of the reign of God over the entire world". ...
One western official who had studied it described the Project as "a totalitarian ideology of infiltration that represents, in the end, the gravest danger for European societies": The Project, which will become a danger in 10 years, he said, will see emerging in Europe the demand for a parallel system, the creation of "Muslim Parliaments" of the sort that already exists in Great Britain ... thus beginning the slow destruction of our institutions, of our structures." For this official, who asked not to be named, the Project is not a simple philosophical text, but a "road map" of which certain elements have been put in place in the real world: notably, it anticipates the start of the war against Israel in the Palestinian territories, and the support given these past years by the Muslim Brotherhood to several armed Islamic groups, from Bosnia to the Phillipines." (UPDATE: Scott Burgess is also translating "The Project". See "Project Permalink" (Scott Burgess, The Daily Ablution, 2005/12/01) for "a single link to all Project-related material.")

"Eurabia’s Morass Elicits Mythical 'Solutions'" (Andrew G. Bostom, The American Thinker, 2005/11/24)
"Two mythical inventions of purported “ecumenical” Islamic rule in Europe have been revived— the “Andalusian paradise” of Muslim Spain, and the former Ottoman millet system (most relevantly, in Eastern Europe, primarily the Balkans). Taheri reports that Gilles Kepel, who (despite arguing prior to 9/11 that jihadism was a spent force within the global Muslim umma!) currently serves as an adviser on Islam to President Chirac, recommended the creation of a modern Andalusia,

“…in which Christians and Muslims would live side by side and cooperate to create a new cultural synthesis”.

Taheri, but unfortunately, not Kepel, Chirac’s adviser, possessed the wisdom to ponder the critical matter of sovereign political power, asking “…Who will rule this new Andalusia: Muslims or the largely secularist Frenchmen?”. Other muddled thinkers, “…are even calling for the areas where Muslims form a majority of the population to be reorganized on the basis of the ‘millet’ system of the Ottoman Empire: Each religious community (millet) would enjoy the right to organize its social, cultural and educational life in accordance with its religious beliefs”, according to Taheri. ...
It is a bitter, tragic irony that the foundational myths of “symbiotic” Andalusian ecumenism and Ottoman “tolerance”, which were central to the genesis of the Eurabian pathology currently on display in Europe, are now also being invoked as salvational fantasies, in the wake of the French riots. Denying any Islamic etiology for the major problems confronting Europe, thus begets more Islam as the “solution”, and accelerates Europe’s seemingly inevitable trajectory towards complete Islamization, with implementation of the Shari’a." (See also: "Why Paris Is Burning" (Amir Taheri, New York Post, 2005/11/04))

"Hague imam did no wrong, says OM" (Expatica, 2005/11/24)
[Emphasis added]: "AMSTERDAM – The Public Prosecutor's Office (Openbaar Ministerie) is not taking legal action against Sheikh Fawaz, an imam at the 'As Soennah' mosque in The Hague, a spokesman said on Thursday.
MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali (VVD) had reported Fawaz to the police, complaining that she had been threatened when he wrote on an internet site that Hirsi Ali would be "blown away by the wind of the changing times'' and that "the curse of Allah" awaited her.
The public prosecutor in The Hague did not find anything criminally liable in these statements. Reacting on Wednesday, Hirsi Ali said that she totally disagreed the prosecutor’s decision.
Meanwhile the independent MP Geert Wilders has tabled questions to Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner about the affair, partly because Fawaz had added in an interview in the daily newspaper 'Algemeen Dagblad ' that he did indeed mean his letter as a threat."

"Former Canadian Minister Of Defence Asks Canadian Parliament Asked To Hold Hearings On Relations With Alien "Et" Civilizations" (PRWeb/Yahoo! News, 2005/11/24)
Perhaps even more disturbing than Hellyer's apparent state of mind is the fact that he got a standing ovation:
"A former Canadian Minister of Defence and Deputy Prime Minister under Pierre Trudeau has joined forces with three Non-governmental organizations to ask the Parliament of Canada to hold public hearings on Exopolitics -- relautions with “ETs.”
By “ETs,” Mr. Hellyer and these organizations mean ethical, advanced extraterrestrial civilizations that may now be visiting Earth.
On September 25, 2005, in a startling speech at the University of Toronto that caught the attention of mainstream newspapers and magazines, Paul Hellyer, Canada’s Defence Minister from 1963-67 under Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prime Minister Lester Pearson, publicly stated: "UFOs, are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head."
Mr. Hellyer went on to say, "I'm so concerned about what the consequences might be of starting an intergalactic war, that I just think I had to say something."
Hellyer revealed, "The secrecy involved in all matters pertaining to the Roswell incident was unparalled. The classification was, from the outset, above top secret, so the vast majority of U.S. officials and politicians, let alone a mere allied minister of defence, were never in-the-loop."
Hellyer warned, "The United States military are preparing weapons which could be used against the aliens, and they could get us into an intergalactic war without us ever having any warning. He stated, "The Bush administration has finally agreed to let the military build a forward base on the moon, which will put them in a better position to keep track of the goings and comings of the visitors from space, and to shoot at them, if they so decide."
Hellyer’s speech ended with a standing ovation. He said, 'The time has come to lift the veil of secrecy, and let the truth emerge, so there can be a real and informed debate, about one of the most important problems facing our planet today.'" (Hat tip: Instapundit, who has more.)

"The First Step to Britishness Is Your Poppy" (Carol Gould, FrontPageMagazine, 2005/11/24)
"Last week was the culmination of that poignant fortnight in which people all over the world wear a poppy in the lead-up to Remembrance Day. Nothing is more dramatic than seeing the sea of red flowers in the lapels of British men and women as they make their way to the office in the early-morning rush hour. All across the British Isles men and women of all ages wear a poppy. When I arrived in the United Kingdom thirty years ago from the United States I was so touched by this tradition that I made sure to buy one from a British Legion volunteer as soon as November rolled around.
The poppy is a symbol of the terrible loss of life in World War I in the fields of Flanders, where these blood-red flowers sprouted above the acres of corpses of fallen soldiers. As the decades have passed, the poppy has been worn to show one’s respect for the millions who have died in successive conflicts as recent as Iraq and Afghanistan. On British television, every presenter and anchor wears a poppy. In keeping with the motto of the British Legion — “Wear your poppy with pride” — every shopkeeper, publican, hotel manager and cabbie wears a poppy. This year I proudly bought mine at my local doctor’s office.
It was therefore all the more astonishing last week when I took a long walk along Edgware Road, the most densely Muslim section of London, and discovered that not one person was wearing a poppy. This all started because I was accosted on my corner, a few yards form where I have lived for twenty-eight years, by a young Arab man who began to get very aggressive with me. Was I, he demanded to know, “from the Jewish”?
He also wanted to know why I was wearing a poppy. I tried to explain the concept of the Cenotaph and Armistice Day. But he seemed determined to establish that I was a Jewess above all else. No matter how hard I tried, I could not shake him off. I began to get very alarmed. I hailed a taxi and, thankfully, my pursuer, who was by this time shouting, did not get into the taxi. The driver was enormously sympathetic but told me that I had been “asking for it” by walking in what he called 'Little Beirut.'"

"Marlowe's Koran-burning hero is censored to avoid Muslim anger" (Dalya Alberge, The Times, 2005/11/24)
"It was the surprise hit of the autumn season, selling out for its entire run and inspiring rave reviews. But now the producers of Tamburlaine the Great have come under fire for censoring Christopher Marlowe’s 1580s masterpiece to avoid upsetting Muslims.
Audiences at the Barbican in London did not see the Koran being burnt, as Marlowe intended, because David Farr, who directed and adapted the classic play, feared that it would inflame passions in the light of the London bombings.
Simon Reade, artistic director of the Bristol Old Vic, said that if they had not altered the original it “would have unnecessarily raised the hackles of a significant proportion of one of the world’s great religions”.
The burning of the Koran was “smoothed over”, he said, so that it became just the destruction of “a load of books” relating to any culture or religion. That made it more powerful, they claimed.
Members of the audience also reported that key references to Muhammad had been dropped, particularly in the passage where Tamburlaine says that he is “not worthy to be worshipped”. In the original Marlowe writes that Muhammad “remains in hell”.
The censorship aroused condemnation yesterday from senior figures in the theatre and scholars, as well as religious leaders. Terry Hands, who directed Tamburlaine for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1992, said: 'I don’t believe you should interfere with any classic for reasons of religious or political correctness.'"

"How a Town Became a Terror Hub" (Craig Whitlock, The Washington Post, 2005/11/24)
"MAASEIK, Belgium -- The phones at city hall began ringing nonstop one morning last year when several masked figures were spotted walking through the cobbled streets of this pastoral town. A small panic erupted when one of the figures, covered head to ankle in black fabric, appeared at a school and scared children to tears.
It turned out the people were not hooded criminals, but six female residents of Maaseik who were displaying their Muslim piety by wearing burqas , garments that veiled their faces, including their eyes. After calm was restored, a displeased Mayor Jan Creemers summoned the women to his office.
"I said, 'Ladies, you can be dressed all in Armani black for all I care, but please do not cover your faces,'" Creemers recalled. "I tried to talk to them about it, but it was impossible. They said, 'We are the only true believers of the Koran.'"
What the city elders did not know at the time was that the women came from households in which several men had embraced radical Islam and joined a terrorist network that was setting up sleeper cells across Europe, according to Belgian federal prosecutors and court documents from Italy, Spain and France. ...
With each arrest, investigators uncovered fresh evidence that placed small-town Maaseik at the center of a terrorist network stretching across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The town had served as a haven for suspects in the Madrid train explosions that killed 191 people in March 2004, for instance, as well as an important meeting place for the GICM's European leadership."

"US pressures UN to condemn Hizbullah" (Herb Keinon, The Jerusalem Post, 2005/11/24)
"Following intense US pressure, the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday issued an unprecedented condemnation of Monday's Hizbullah attacks on northern Israel.
This condemnation - slamming Hizbullah by name for "acts of hatred" - marked the first time the Security Council has ever reprimanded Hizbullah for cross-border attacks on Israel. The condemnation followed by two days a failed attempt to get a condemnation issued on Monday, the day of the attack, when Algeria came out against any mention of Hizbullah in the statement.
When asked what changed from Monday to Wednesday, one diplomatic official replied: "John Bolton," a reference to the US ambassador to the UN. Bolton lobbied vigorously for the passage of the statement.
The condemnation expressed "deep concern" over the attack, and called on Lebanon to exercise its sovereignty and authority in the south according to relevant Security Council resolutions."

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

News and commentary:

"Gunmen Kill Sunni Arab Sheik, Kin in Iraq" (Bassem Mroue, AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/11/23)
"BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms burst into the home of a Sunni Arab sheik Wednesday, killing him, three of his sons and a son-in-law in an attack police said may have been aimed at discouraging members of the minority from participating in next month's election.
Khadim Sarhid al-Hemaiyem, who lived on the outskirts of Baghdad, was the leader of a branch of the Dulaimi tribe, one of the biggest in
Iraq. His brother is a candidate in the Dec. 15 parliamentary election, three of his sons had been policemen and another son was slain last month north of the capital, police and family members said. ...
The brutal attack on the sheik and his family took place amid a major campaign by U.S. and Iraqi authorities to encourage Sunni Arabs to vote next month in hopes of luring them away from the insurgency.
Some insurgent groups have declared a boycott of the election and have threatened politicians who participate. Police said they suspected the sheik's death was designed as a warning to Sunni Arabs against heeding the U.S. call.
However, the Association of Muslim Scholars, a hard-line Sunni organization believed to have links to insurgents, condemned the slayings and linked them to what many fear is a campaign against Sunnis by the Shiite-led government security services."

"Iraq's a lost cause? Ask the real experts" (Max Boot, Los Angeles Times, 2005/11/23)
"When it comes to the future of Iraq, there is a deep disconnect between those who have firsthand knowledge of the situation — Iraqis and U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq — and those whose impressions are shaped by doomsday press coverage and the imperatives of domestic politics.":
"Now, it could be that the Iraqi public and the U.S. armed forces are delusional. Maybe things really are on an irreversible downward slope. But before reaching such an apocalyptic conclusion, stop to consider why so many with firsthand experience have more hope than those without any.
For starters, one can point to two successful elections this year, on Jan. 30 and Oct. 15, in which the majority of Iraqis braved insurgent threats to vote. The constitutional referendum in October was particularly significant because it marked the first wholesale engagement of Sunnis in the political process. Since then, Sunni political parties have made clear their determination to also participate in the Dec. 15 parliamentary election. This is big news. The most disaffected group in Iraq is starting to realize that it must achieve its objectives through ballots, not bullets.
There are also positive economic indicators that receive little or no coverage in the Western media. For all the insurgents' attempts to sabotage the Iraqi economy, the Brookings Institution reports that per capita income has doubled since 2003 and is now 30% higher than it was before the war. Thanks primarily to the increase in oil prices, the Iraqi economy is projected to grow at a whopping 16.8% next year. According to Brookings' Iraq index, there are five times more cars on the streets than in Saddam Hussein's day, five times more telephone subscribers and 32 times more Internet users."

"Paper Says Bush Talked of Bombing Arab TV Network" (Kevin Sullivan and Walter Pincus, The Washington Post, 2005/11/23)
"President Bush expressed interest in bombing the headquarters of the Arabic television network al-Jazeera during a White House conversation with Prime Minister Tony Blair in April 2004, a British newspaper reported Tuesday.
The Daily Mirror report was attributed to two anonymous sources describing a classified document they said contained a transcript of the two leaders' talk. One source is quoted as saying Bush's alleged remark concerning the network's headquarters in Qatar was "humorous, not serious," while the other said, "Bush was deadly serious."
In Washington, a senior diplomat said the Bush remark as recounted in the newspaper "sounds like one of the president's one-liners that is meant as a joke." But, the diplomat said, "it was foolish for someone to write it down, and now it will be a story for days." ...
A former senior U.S. intelligence official said that it was clear the White House saw al-Jazeera as a problem, but that although the CIA's clandestine service came up with plans to counteract it, such as planting people on its staff, it never received permission to proceed. "Bombing in Qatar was never contemplated," the former official said."

"Va. Man Convicted In Plot to Kill Bush" (Jerry Markon, The Washington Post, 2005/11/23)
"A federal jury convicted a Falls Church man yesterday of plotting to kill President Bush, concluding that Ahmed Omar Abu Ali joined an al Qaeda conspiracy to mount a series of Sept. 11-style attacks and assassinations in the United States.
The trial in U.S. District Court in Alexandria was the first in an American criminal courtroom to rely so heavily on evidence gathered by a foreign intelligence service. Security officers from Saudi Arabia, where Abu Ali was jailed for 20 months, provided the bulk of the government's case, testifying via video from the kingdom. ...
Jurors convicted Abu Ali, 24, a U.S. citizen, on all nine counts against him, including conspiracy to assassinate the president, conspiracy to commit aircraft piracy and providing material support to al Qaeda. He faces 20 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 17.
The verdict, on the third day of deliberations, brought a quiet end to one of the most emotional terrorism cases since the Sept 11, 2001, attacks. Abu Ali's parents had mounted a highly public campaign to have him brought back from Saudi Arabia. They alleged that their son was tortured by Saudi security officers and that U.S. officials were complicitous in the treatment.
That claim became the center of Abu Ali's defense: that his admission to Saudi security officers about being involved in the terror plot was coerced. But first a judge and then a jury rejected that argument.
Juror Nancy Ramsden said the panel did not believe Abu Ali's allegation. The key piece of evidence, she said, was his 13-minute videotaped statement. "He was laughing; he was joking. It was chilling," she said. 'He was leaning back, rocking in his chair, asking for water, laughing, smiling. He wasn't moving as though he was in pain. . . . It didn't appear he was being coerced.'"

Added in archive:
"France at the brink" (Alex Alexiev, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 2005/11/20)

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

News and commentary:

"Dirty Bomb Suspect Padilla Indicted" (Mark Sherman, AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/11/22)
"WASHINGTON - Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen held without charges for more than three years on suspicion of plotting a "dirty bomb" attack in this country, has been indicted on three counts alleging he conspired to "murder, maim and kidnap" people overseas. ...
"The indictment alleges that Padilla traveled overseas to train as a terrorist with the intention of fighting a violent jihad," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said at a news conference. Gonzales declined to comment on why none of the allegations involving attacks in America were included in the indictment.
Padilla, a Brooklyn-born Muslim convert, had been held as an "enemy combatant" in Defense Department custody. The Bush administration had resisted calls to charge and try him in civilian courts.
With the indictment, Padilla will be transferred from military custody to the Justice Department. Gonzales said the case would go to trial in September of 2006. Padilla faces life in prison if convicted on the three charges — one count each of conspiracy to murder, maim and kidnap people overseas, providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy."

"Israeli Warplanes Hit Targets in Lebanon" (Laurie Copans, AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/11/22)
"Israeli said its warplanes struck in Lebanon on Tuesday in what Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz described as the largest-scale Israeli response to cross-border attacks by Lebanese guerrillas since 2000.
Mofaz spoke just hours after Israeli fighter jets attacked a command post of Hezbollah guerrillas in south Lebanon and after army bulldozers entered Lebanon to demolish a Hezbollah post just north of the community of Ghajar. ...
Monday's Hezbollah attack "was the largest-scale, most hostile since the departure of Israeli forces from Lebanon (in 2000)," Mofaz said in remarks broadcast on Israel Radio. The Israeli response "was the widest against attempts by Hezbollah to escalate the situation." ...
Hezbollah's actions appeared to have political motivations. As the powerful Shiite Muslim militant group in control of the Lebanese side of the border with Israel, Hezbollah is an ally of Syria in Lebanon. In recent weeks it has stepped up its criticism — along with Syria — of the
United Nations and its investigation into the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
The probe has implicated Syrian officials in the February murder.
An escalation of tension in southern Lebanon would strengthen Syria's hand with the U.N. by focusing attention on the need for a stable Syria as a key to peace in Lebanon, where it kept a large military force for nearly three decades." (See also: "Israel Troops Kill Four Hezbollah Fighters" (Sam F. Ghattas, AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/11/21))

"Bush is as 'wicked' as Hitler" (News24.com, 2005/11/22)
Sounds pretty much like almost any op-ed in The Guardian:
"Seoul - North Korea denounced United States president George W Bush as a "wicked man" comparable to Adolf Hitler, and labelled his advocating democracy a pretext for invading other countries.
"The US admonition for 'freedom' and 'democracy' is to invent pretexts for violating sovereignty of other countries and nations and establishing its unchallenged domination over the world," said the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Monday. ...
KCNA called Bush a "warlike president" who "took the lead in advocating state-sponsored terrorism" and "openly defended murderous torture in prisons" - which it claimed were reminiscent of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
"History proves that the ringleaders of fascism that stood stern trials for their crimes against humanity advocated 'freedom' and 'democracy' more noisily than any others," said KCNA. 'This will only more glaringly reveal his true colours as a wicked man whom the world compares to fascist fanatic Hitler.'"

"Iraqi Leaders Call for Pullout Timetable" (Salah Nasrawi, AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/11/22)
"CAIRO, Egypt - Reaching out to the Sunni Arab community, Iraqi leaders called for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces and said Iraq's opposition had a "legitimate right" of resistance.
The communique — finalized by Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni leaders Monday — condemned terrorism but was a clear acknowledgment of the Sunni position that insurgents should not be labeled as terrorists if their operations do not target innocent civilians or institutions designed to provide for the welfare of Iraqi citizens. ...
The preparatory reconciliation conference, held under the auspices of the Arab League, was attended by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Iraqi Shiite and Kurdish lawmakers as well as leading Sunni politicians. ...
In Egypt, the final communique's attempt to define terrorism omitted any reference to attacks against U.S. or Iraqi forces. Delegates from across the political and religious spectrum said the omission was intentional. They spoke anonymously, saying they feared retribution.
"Though resistance is a legitimate right for all people, terrorism does not represent resistance. Therefore, we condemn terrorism and acts of violence, killing and kidnapping targeting Iraqi citizens and humanitarian, civil, government institutions, national resources and houses of worships," the document said."

"Listen to the word on the 'Arab street'" (Mark Steyn, The Daily Telegraph, 2005/11/22)
"On Friday, the allegedly explosive "Arab street" finally exploded, in the largest demonstration against al-Qa'eda or its affiliates seen in the Middle East. "Zarqawi," shouted 200,000 Jordanians, "from Amman we say to you, you are a coward!" Also "the enemy of Allah" - which, for a jihadist, isn't what they call on Broadway a money review. ...
Did they show that on the BBC? Or are demonstrations only news when they're anti-Bush and anti-Blair? And look at it this way: if the "occupation" is so unpopular in Iraq, where are the mass demonstrations against that? I'm not talking 200,000, or even 100 or 50,000. But, if there were just 1,500 folks shouting "Great Satan, go home!" in Baghdad or Mosul, it would be large enough for the media to do that little trick where they film the demo close up so it looks like the place is packed. Yet no such demonstrations take place. ...
So, just as things are looking up on the distant, eastern front, they're wobbling badly on the home front. Anti-Bush Continentals who would welcome a perceived American defeat in Iraq ought to remember the third front in this war: Europe is both a home front and a foreign battleground - as the Dutch have learnt, watching the land of the bicycling Queen transformed into 24-hour armed security for even minor municipal officials. In this war, for Europeans the faraway country of which they know little turns out to be their own. Much as the Guardian and Le Monde would enjoy it, an America that turns its back on the world is the last thing you need."

"Blood debt women offered up for rape" (Isambard Wilkinson, The Daily Telegraph, 2005/11/22)
"A village council in Pakistan has decreed that five young women should be abducted, raped or killed for refusing to honour childhood "marriages".
The women, who are cousins, were married in absentia by a mullah in their Punjabi village to illiterate sons of their family's enemies in 1996, when they were aged from six to 13.
The marriages were part of a compensation agreement ordered by the village council and reached at gunpoint after the father of one of the girls shot dead a family rival.
The rival families have now called in their "debt", demanding the marriages to the village men are fulfilled.
The case is becoming a cause célèbre in Pakistan, pitting tribal mores against a group of modern-minded, educated women. Amna Niazi, the eldest of the five at 22, is taking a degree in English literature, while both her sisters want to attend university.
Their fathers are supporting them and have refused to hand them over, leading to a resumption of the blood feud, with two relatives shot recently and 20 people arrested, while promises of further retribution and murder abound.
In addition to the sentence on the women, the village council has sentenced to death Jehan Khan Niazi, the father of three of the women, and the fathers of the other two for failing to honour the supposed bond with men whose identities they are not even certain of.
The women have said they will commit suicide if their fathers obey the council."

"Mosul Raid Missed Zarqawi, U.S. Says" (Ellen Knickmeyer, The Washington Post, 2005/11/22)
"BABYLON, Iraq, Nov. 21 -- A massive raid on a house in northern Iraq where insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi was said to be hiding failed to capture or kill him, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said Monday.
"I do not believe that we got him. But his days are numbered," he told reporters. "We're closer to that goal, but unfortunately we didn't get him in Mosul." ...
In Sunday's raid in the north, eight suspected insurgents, four Iraqi policemen and two U.S. Special Operations members were killed in what Iraqi officials said was a three-hour, helicopter-backed firefight at a house in Mosul.
Three of the men inside the house blew themselves up with explosives rather than be captured.
U.S. and Iraqi security officials said their forces had received a tip that Zarqawi was meeting with his lieutenants at the house. The fierce resistance by fighters helped heighten suspicions that Zarqawi might have been inside.
U.S. officials gathered remains of the dead to try to determine if he was there, Iraqi officials in Mosul said. Americans ran DNA tests before Khalilzad commented in public."

Added in archive:
"Barricaded in Paris" (Mireille Silcoff, National Post, 2005/11/19)

Monday, November 21, 2005

News and commentary:

"Israel Troops Kill Four Hezbollah Fighters" (Sam F. Ghattas, AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/11/21)
"BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah rockets blasted Israeli army outposts and Israel's warplanes and shells hit guerrilla targets Monday in a sharp escalation of violence linked to political upheaval in Lebanon.
The fighting was the first major cross-border conflict in five months and the heaviest between the two sides in more than three years.
Witnesses in southern Lebanon said heavy exchanges lasted for two hours in the evening and continued intermittently into the night as Hezbollah guerrillas fired truck-mounted rockets at Israeli army positions. Israeli warplanes launched an airstrike late Monday night, Lebanese security officials reported.
Hezbollah guerrillas blamed Israel but the Jewish state said Hezbollah attacked first and with the backing of supporters in Syria and Iran.
Four guerrillas were killed and several Israeli soldiers wounded, according to accounts from both sides."

"The March of the Extremists: Attacks Threaten Religious Harmony in Southeast Asia" (Jürgen Kremb, Der Spiegel, 2005/11/21)
"Buddhist monks are being murdered, Christian schoolchildren beheaded and dissenters blown up. Southeast Asia's peaceful co-existence among religions is under siege, from Bangkok to Jakarta. Meanwhile, politicians and military leaders are using Islamic fervor to boost their own power.":
"Pheewat Tirasato is normally in a hurry to reach the scene of the crime when he's needed. After all, he only has to throw on a saffron robe and a pair of rubber sandals and hop into the car he is provided by the temple where he serves as a monk. But when his mobile phone rang on Oct. 16, he could only advise the caller to lock his doors and pray that the army would arrive soon. "I don't know if I can make it there alive," he says, and tells the caller that he'll be there the next day.
It's a cautiousness that has probably saved his life. By the time Tirasato, who provides comfort to the victims of violence, finally arrived at Promprasith Temple 20 kilometers from the southern Thai city of Narathiwat, large sections of the complex had been destroyed.
Local residents told the "monk of reconciliation," as Tirasato is called here, that about 20 masked men attacked the temple complex. "Allah is great," they shouted before killing two temple novices. When a 76-year-old monk stood in front of the attackers in an attempt to appease them, they slit his throat and threw his body into a fire. ...
People who have spent decades trying to promote reconciliation among the region's religious groups are beginning to feel that their efforts are futile. Pheewat Tirasato, the Buddhist monk in the Thai city of Narathiwat, is one of these people.
"These days people are more interested in settling scores and exacting revenge," he says. One of the temple novices who survived the attack on the Promprasith temple apparently sees things in a similar light. In early November he enrolled in a course on the use of handguns offered by the army." (See also: "Suspected Insurgents Kill 11 in Thailand" (AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/10/16))

"The Anti-Anti-Americans" (Paul Berman, The New Republic, 2005/11/21)
A brilliant essay on the history of French anti-Americanism and the new literature of anti-anti-Americanism:
"In this fashion, a cultural tradition arose in which America was condemned for every possible reason and its opposite - condemned for being less advanced than Europe, which is to say, geographically and sociologically younger; and also for being ahead of Europe in its social development, which is to say, older. America was a country without values; and appallingly moralistic. Repulsive for being racist; and for mixing its races. America's democracy was a failure and a sham; and America was repeatedly said to have lately fallen away from its admirable democratic past. America was governed by a dictatorship of millionaires; or by a rabble of corner grocers. Worse than Hitler; or Hitler's heir; and either way a threat to humanism.
America was frightening because it was excessively powerful; and was repeatedly declared to be on the brink of collapse. America was bellicose; and its soldiers, cowardly. America was hopelessly Christian; and, beginning in the 1920s, America was, even so, dominated by Jews. Coldly calculating; and, at the same time, religiously insane. Talleyrand made the complaint about religious insanity at the very start of the American republic (he had fled to America in 1794 to escape the mass guillotinings that were mandated by France's new religion of the Goddess of Reason) in his witty remark that America featured thirty-two religions and only one dish, which was inedible. The remark about food was significant in itself, and suggested, as well, a larger complaint about the unattractive thinness of America's culture -- a main theme of the anti-American accusation. And yet America's greatest danger to the world was also said to be its culture, which, despite its lack of appeal, was dangerously appealing, and was going to crush all other cultures."

"Baghdad’s Real Torturers" (Heather McDonald, City Journal, 2005/11/21)
"The U.S. military recently uncovered alleged evidence of torture in Iraqi-run Baghdad prisons, including what appeared to be a torture chamber in an Iraqi Ministry of Interior detention facility. The Sunni reaction to these discoveries poses a considerable problem for proponents of the anti-American “torture narrative”: The Sunnis are calling on the U.S. military to correct the situation! “I wish the Americans would go to [the prisons] and find out about it,” former detainee Sadiq Abdul Razzaq Samarrai told the New York Times.
This is bizarre behavior indeed. According to Andrew Sullivan, Seymour Hersh, and other proponents of the “torture narrative,” Americans are the leading sadists in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Cuba. For the Sunnis to ask the Americans to protect them against alleged Shiite abuse would seem to them as delusional as a Jewish prisoner in Auschwitz appealing to Hitler for salvation.
But the Iraqi reaction to the recent torture allegations defies the conventional “torture” wisdom in more ways than one. It turns out that the safest prisons in Iraq are those enjoying regular American oversight. Another former detainee, Amar Sami Samarrai (cousin of Sadiq Abdul), credits his safe treatment to the fact that the Americans had gone through his detention center near Baghdad four times during his 38-day stay, according to the New York Times. ...
When the history of the war on terror is written, the strangest chapter will address why so many American intellectuals were so determined to believe the absolute worst about U.S. behavior. Unfortunately, their willful self-delusion has influenced American intelligence policy more than has the truth."

"While America has been looking elsewhere, the war on terror has rapidly been shifting its direction" (Abigail R. Esman, Jewish World Review, 2005/11/21)
"This is the beginning of the war!" a French Muslim boy called out in the middle of the riots in Le Blanc Mesnil, just north of Paris.
But is it? Or was the war really going on already?
Few Americans have heard of him, but in Europe, more and more are becoming familiar with the name — and the ideas — of Dyab Abou Jahjah, founder of the now-international Arab European League (AEL) and the Muslim Democratic Party. Handsome, charismatic, well-educated, and multilingual, he has the perfect makings of a political leader, or perhaps better said, a man poised to lead a revolution. And he knows it.
More to the point: as the fury of Muslim youth explodes across the landscape of Western Europe, it's time that others know it, too.
The AEL, first founded in Belgium in 2000 — in other words, before September 2001 — now has branches in the Netherlands and France, and intends to spread across the E.U., with plans to participate in future European Parliamentary elections as the Muslim Democratic Party. With battle cries like "Whatever Means Necessary" and frequent condemnations of America, Jahjah — who called the 9/11 attacks "sweet revenge" — recruits Muslim youth to spread his ideology, a vague series of ideas that occasionally appear moderate, but when added together, call for violent resistance, the destruction of Israel, and the introduction of Sharia (Islamic) law in Europe.
Most recently, Jahjah issued a public statement supporting Iranian president Ahadi Najad's declaration calling for Israel to be wiped off the face of the map. "The foundation of Najad's reasoning is intellectually defendable," he writes in English (the statement in its entirety can be found here) 'and despite the fact that his regime is no perfect example of political morality, I argue that his position on this matter is the only possible moral one.'" (See also: "Zionism is Racism: AhmadiNajad said it, but we mean it" (Dyab Abou Jahjah, AEL, 2005/10/28))

"How To Lose A War" (Ralph Peters, New York Post, 2005/11/21)
"QUIT. It's that simple. There are plenty of more complex ways to lose a war, but none as reliable as just giving up.
Increasingly, quitting looks like the new American Way of War. No matter how great your team, you can't win the game if you walk off the field at half-time. That's precisely what the Democratic Party wants America to do in Iraq. Forget the fact that we've made remarkable progress under daunting conditions: The Dems are looking to throw the game just to embarrass the Bush administration.
Forget about the consequences. Disregard the immediate encouragement to the terrorists and insurgents to keep killing every American soldier they can. Ignore what would happen in Iraq — and the region — if we bail out. And don't mention how a U.S. surrender would turn al Qaeda into an Islamic superpower, the champ who knocked out Uncle Sam in the third round. ...
The irresponsibility of the Democrats on Capitol Hill is breathtaking. (How can an honorable man such as Joe Lieberman stay in that party?) Not one of the critics of our efforts in Iraq — not one — has described his or her vision for Iraq and the Middle East in the wake of a troop withdrawal. Not one has offered any analysis of what the terrorists would gain and what they might do. Not one has shown respect for our war dead by arguing that we must put aside our partisan differences and win.
There's plenty I don't like about the Bush administration. Its domestic policies disgust me, and the Bushies got plenty wrong in Iraq. But at least they'll fight. The Dems are ready to betray our troops, our allies and our country's future security for a few House seats.
Surrender is never a winning strategy."

"Jordan's Anti-Terror Rallies" (Walid Phares, FrontPageMagazine, 2005/11/21)
"In world history, it is rare to see a monarchy leading a revolution, but in Jordan, it may be happening now. Since the bloody strikes by terrorist Abu Mus'aab al Zarqawi against civilian targets in downtown Amman last week, the world is watching tens of thousands of Jordanian citizens taking to the streets to protest the plague of Irhaab (terrorism). During the last march, more than 200,000 Jordanians poured onto the streets attacking Zarqawi’s al-Qaeda and denouncing the jihad that struck during a Muslim wedding. Clearly, anger is building in this purely Arab, almost entirely Sunni, desert country. ...
As I mentioned on MSNBC yesterday, Zarqawi and other al-Qaeda terrorists are deadlocked by their own ideology. They have produced a backlash: average Arabs – Sunni and Shi’ite – are marching against terror in the heart of the area he hoped to use as a recruitment center. Their march will be a long and bloody one, and a journey that will reach beyond the borders of Jordan. This is understood as good news everywhere except here, in the West. Western intellectual discourse is missing this big picture."

"A Mixed Family Struggles On France's Urban Fringe" (Molly Moore, The Washington Post, 2005/11/21)
"CLICHY-SOUS-BOIS, France -- Five days a week, Veronique Nadaud leaves her job at an elementary school library in Paris where the students address her respectfully as "Madam." She walks past graceful buildings and bakery windows filled with tarts and baguettes, and descends into a subway station.
One hour later, she steps off a connecting bus into another France -- the soulless suburban town of Clichy-sous-Bois. A teenage boy shouts obscenities at the sturdy 42-year-old mother of three. She trudges across a lumpy asphalt parking lot toward a row of high-rise concrete rectangles called Woods of the Temple Residence and tugs open the blue metal door of Building 8. The lock is broken, the windows have no glass.
Inside Nadaud's fifth-floor apartment, her 3-year-old daughter, Mael, is hunched over the dining table, drawing fat brown blobs on white paper. The mother leans over Mael's shoulder, wiping wet hands on a dish towel.
"What is that, dear?" she coos.
"It's the boys burning cars," the toddler replies."

"Iran Parliament Votes to Close Atomic Sites to U.N. Monitors" (Nazila Fathi, The New York Times, 2005/11/21)
"TEHRAN, Nov. 20 - The Iranian Parliament on Sunday approved the outline of a bill that would bar United Nations inspectors from its nuclear sites if the agency referred Iran's case to the Security Council for possible punitive measures.
The board of governors of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to review Iran's case when it meets Thursday. The atomic agency passed a resolution in September and called on Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment-related activities before the meeting.
The bill needs the approval of the Guardian Council, which has final say over all government actions, to become law. But the approval on Sunday, by 183 of the 197 lawmakers present, suggests that Parliament backs the government's tougher stance on its nuclear program.
"By approving this bill, we are sending a message to the atomic agency," said Aladdin Boroujerdi, the head of Parliament's Commission for Foreign Policy and National Security, urging the agency not to act against Iran.
"Otherwise, we require the government to suspend all its voluntary measures," he said, according to the ISNA student news agency. Mr. Boroujerdi was referring to Iran allowing inspection of its nuclear sites.
Iran defied an agreement with Britain, France and Germany in August and resumed activities at a nuclear site near Isfahan."

Added in archive:
"US author lauds suicide bombers" (David Nason, The Australian, 2005/11/19)
"The death of an easygoing culture" (Anthony Browne, The Times, 2005/11/19)

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