From the WSJ Opinion Archives
Outside
the Box
For months we've been subjected to the tiresome cliché that President Bush
"hasn't made the case" for overthrowing Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. No doubt
many of those who say this will never be convinced. We have a vision of these
folks, several decades hence, when Iraq is a thriving democracy, sitting, old
and decrepit, and muttering sadly: "But he never made the case!"
Be that as it may, anyone who says President Bush hasn't made the case should be banned from appearing on ABC, CBS or NBC. As the New York Post's John Podhoretz notes, all these networks opted not to carry the president's speech last night in which he did make the case (The Fox broadcast network carried it, as did the all-news cable networks.) The New York Times says this is because "the White House did not formally ask the networks to broadcast the speech, as is the usual practice." But since when do news organizations wait for a formal invitation before covering the news?
Anyway, in case you were watching one of the nets last night, here are some highlights from the speech:
Best rhetoric. On the dangers of allowing Saddam to remain in power: "Failure to act would embolden other tyrants, allow terrorists access to new weapons and new resources, and make blackmail a permanent feature of world events. The United Nations would betray the purpose of its founding, and prove irrelevant to the problems of our time. And through its inaction, the United States would resign itself to a future of fear. That is not the America I know. That is not the America I serve. We refuse to live in fear."
Why inspectors can't do the job. "The Iraqi regime bugged hotel rooms and offices of inspectors to find where they were going next; they forged documents, destroyed evidence, and developed mobile weapons facilities to keep a step ahead of inspectors. Eight so-called presidential palaces were declared off-limits to unfettered inspections. These sites actually encompass twelve square miles, with hundreds of structures, both above and below the ground, where sensitive materials could be hidden."
Why this isn't a "distraction." "Terror cells and outlaw regimes building weapons of mass destruction are different faces of the same evil. Our security requires that we confront both."
Why now. "If the Iraqi regime is able to produce, buy, or steal an amount of highly enriched uranium a little larger than a single softball, it could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year."
On liberating Iraq. "America believes that all people are entitled to hope and human rights, to the nonnegotiable demands of human dignity. People everywhere prefer freedom to slavery; prosperity to squalor; self-government to the rule of terror and torture. America is a friend to the people of Iraq. Our demands are directed only at the regime that enslaves them and threatens us. When these demands are met, the first and greatest benefit will come to Iraqi men, women and children."
The
GOP Unites
House Majority Leader Dick Armey, who had expressed skepticism about war with
Iraq, now says he'll support the resolution authorizing it, the Washington Post
reports. And Sen. Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican respected for his foreign-policy
expertise, has abandoned plans to offer an alternative resolution giving the president
less authority. Republicans will likely be close to unanimous when the vote comes--but
not quite. Two GOP congressmen, Jim Leach of Iowa and Ron Paul of Texas, voted
against the resolution when it passed the House International Relations Committee.
Leach is a liberal Republican who faces a tough re-election battle in a state
with isolationist tendencies (Iowa's Sen. Chuck Grassley was one of only two GOP
senators to vote against the Gulf War in 1991). Paul is a doctrinaire isolationist.
How overwhelming a "yes" vote will it be? That depends on the Democrats, who are divided. Even Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who is divided against himself, answered affirmatively when Tim Russert asked him on NBC's "Meet the Press" if he's "inclined to support" the resolution. He went on to hem and haw about how he'd like to see "improvements" in the language, but concluded: "We've got to support this effort. We've got to do it in an enthusiastic and bipartisan way. And I think that will be done."
Boo
for the Buzzcocks
The Weekly Standard's "contributing humorist," Larry Miller, tells the
following heartening story, related to him by a friend who went to a Southern
California punk-rock festival:
"Buzzcocks" came on, played their first song, and the lead singer stepped forward and shouted this (verbatim from Jack, he wrote it down) into the mike: "F--- GEORGE BUSH! DON'T LISTEN TO HIM. WE HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING IN IRAQ, NO MATTER WHAT HE SAYS." And here comes the good news.
There was a long pause, complete silence. And then they started. The boos. One here, one there. Then everyone. Everyone. Louder and louder. Jack told me how the puzzled singer blinked in surprise, looked at the rest of his band, and then stepped forward again to try to save the moment. "NO, NO, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. I SAID F--- GEORGE BUSH. F--- HIM." The boos grew even louder, and then people began shouting back up to the stage, "NO, MAN, F--- YOU!" "YEAH, F--- YOU, A-----E!" More and more, ceaselessly rising, until the shaken band caucused quickly and just blasted into their next song.
Not bad, eh? I know, I know, it's not exactly parliament shouting down Clement Atlee, but, all in all, not bad.
Arab
'Journalism'
"The Cairo-based Arab Journalists Association is weighing the expulsion of
two members for publishing articles on the Israeli Web site, Y-Net, on grounds
of 'normalization with the enemy, Israel,' " the Jerusalem Post reports:
Yemeni-born Munir al-Mawri is being criticized for supporting a US strike on Iraq, while the other journalist, Imran Salman, from Bahrain, condemned suicide attacks carried out by Palestinians. Both also work for the Web site of Qatari al-Jazeera television.
Where's the outrage? Not on the Web sites of the International Federation of Journalists or Reporters Sans Frontières, as far as we can tell.
Don't
Know Much About History--I
Shibley Telhami opposes a war to topple Saddam Hussein, because, as he explains
in a New York Times op-ed, "democracy cannot be imposed through military
force, even if force is used successfully to oust antidemocratic dictators."
Uh, Shibley? Ever hear of Germany and Japan?
Don't
Know Much About History--II
Yesterday we
noted that a PBS Web site called "Global Connections" features a timeline
of Mideast history that doesn't begin until the year 622, with the founding of
Islam. Lots of readers e-mailed us to point to examples of anti-Western, anti-Christian
and pro-Muslim bias on the site. We don't have the patience to enumerate them,
so we leave that task to some intrepid blogger. But here's one example of just
how wrong the PBSers (this is actually a product of Boston's WGBH) get things:
The U.S. supported Iraq's Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), when Iran's new post-revolutionary Islamic regime appeared to be the region's biggest threat. Saddam Hussein was even featured as Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1981.
As one can easily learn by checking Time's Web site, the Man of the Year for 1981 was Lech Walesa. Maybe the guys at WGBH didn't see past the mustache.
You
Don't Say--I
"What is driving Russia's actions at the United Nations? Self interest, of
course."--Mark Brzezinski, New York Times, Oct. 8
And
the Saudis Are 'Moderate Arabs'
An ABCNews.com piece on Afghanistan includes the following description: "Ismail
Khan, a Tajik, is considered a liberal, enlightened warlord."
And
Yasser Arafat Won a Peace Prize in 1994
"Three Win Nobel for Work on Suicidal Cells"--headline, New York Times,
Oct. 8
Scotch
and Water
A Kampala man has renounced his Muslim faith, reports the Ugandan newspaper New
Vision: "Abdurahaman (now John) Lwasampijja, stood up in the mosque and said
he could no longer stay in the religion which did not allow drinking alcohol."
He'll soon be wet in more ways than one: "After announcing his name change,
he said he would soon be baptised at the St. Jude Cathedral in Bukoto."
Just
a Little Gun Battle, No Big Deal
"Sheikh Abdullah bin Hussein al-Ahmar, Speaker of Parliament and Chairman of Islah
Party, says the shootout between his sons and police in Sana'a last Sunday is
no big deal," the Yemen Times reports. Al-Ahmar "describes the incident as 'a
normal accident,' pointing out in press statements that some people in the government
have tried to make a mountain out of a molehill." As many as four men died in
this minor tiff.
This
Time, Mr. Sniper, You've Gone Too Far
In response to yesterday's nonfatal shooting of a 13-year-old boy in Prince George's
County, Md., Charles Moose, police chief of neighboring Montgomery County, is
talking tough. "All of our victims have been innocent and defenseless, but now
we're stepping over the line," the Washington Post quotes him as saying. "Shooting
a kid--it's getting to be really, really personal now."
The killer also shot seven adults, six fatally--all before "stepping over the line."
You Don't Say--II and III
"Fear Grows After Latest Attack"--headline, CNN.com,
Oct. 7
"Md. Parents Anxious Over Sniper"--headline, Associated Press, Oct. 8
Zero-Tolerance
Watch
"A slut nixes sex in Tulsa." Somehow the famous palindrome came to mind
when we read this dispatch from Oklahoma's second city: "Cheerleaders at
a high school in Sand Springs can no longer wear their uniforms to school--they're
too skimpy for the dress code."
The Associated Press reports that "some schools around the country are administering urine tests to teenagers to find out whether they have been using tobacco." Kids shouldn't smoke, but this seems excessive. In most states it's legal to smoke at 18, and it's hard to see what educational purpose it serves for schools to inquire into their students' off-campus smoking. Unlike alcohol and drugs, after all, cigarettes do not dull the mind.
Honey
Pot
"Authorities say a beekeeper figured out an ingenious way to protect a 15-pound
marijuana harvest in his barn: his bees," the Associated Press reports from
Kirkville, N.Y. Cops arrested him anyway. A New York City judge, meanwhile, has
ruled in favor of a marijuana defendant, the Daily
News reports:
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Gerald Harris said a cop went too far when he pinched the cheeks of a drug suspect and four bags of pot fell out. . . .
"The defendant's failure to respond to the officer's questions, and the fact that he mumbled, did not warrant the intrusive action taken by the officer to force open his mouth," the judge said.
We have to wonder what the headline writer for the Guardian was smoking when he penned this blurb for an "Ottawa dispatch": "In considering the decriminalisation of marijuana, Canada's outgoing prime minister may make a hash of US relations, writes Anne McIlroy."
Meanwhile, here's a headline from Canada's National Post: "Weak Loonie Lures Students From the U.S." No, "weak loonie" is not a Canuck colloquialism for marijuana; it's a nickname for the Canadian dollar.
Life Imitates the Onion
"Hershey's Ordered to Pay Obese Americans $135 Billion"--headline, the Onion, Aug. 3, 2000
"New Legal Target: Chocolate"--headline, Orange County (Calif.) Register, Oct. 8, 2002
Eight
Days a Week
Here's another reason to hate the metric system. In an article on panini, an Italian
sandwich, Fox News quotes one Matt Abramcyk: "I had one in Italy and it was a
lot better. But for value for my money I'll go to Subway nine out of 10 days a
week." Can you imagine if the metric folks get their way and a week is 10 days
long? Oh sure, it's fine for lazy Europeans; it just means their 12-week vacations
are even longer. But we Americans would end up working eight days without a break.
(Elizabeth Crowley helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Aaron Gross, Michael Williamson, Herman Jacobs, Cal Smith, Mara Gold, Jim Orheim, Irina Kaplan, Marie Bourgeois, Michael Segal, Richard Haisley, C.E. Dobkin, Elazar Meisels, Rosslyn Smith, David Gerstman, Jerome Marcus, Irene Margolin-Katz, Reuven Weiser, Miriam Himmelfarb, Yehuda Hilewitz, Carl Sherer, Gordon Kaplan, Dmitri Raitzin, Randy Lawson, Robert Krumm, Dave Weaver, Zachary Barbera, Scott Wood, Lars Larson, Nechama Cox, Dan Friedman, Quentin Rexwinkle, Peter Melvoin, Paul Cooper, Martin Heilweil, Joseph Slominsky, Damian Bennett and Mark Rutowski. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
- Review & Outlook: Toppling Saddam isn't enough. Liberation must be the goal.
- Tom Bray: Cheers for Lewis and Clark--and jeers to those who disparage their achievement.
- Brendan Miniter on the Maryland sniper and the war on terror.
- From the Archives: The Wall Street Journal backed regime change in 1991.
