From the WSJ Opinion Archives
You
Don't Say--I
"Here's a prediction: In the end, 9/11 will have a much bigger impact on
the Arab and Muslim worlds than it does on America."--Thomas Friedman,
New York Times, Jan. 8
Memo
From a Terrorist
Montaser Al Zayat, an Egyptian lawyer who represents "Islamic Jihad and
other Islamic groups," claims he's received an e-mail from Osama bin Laden
deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, CNN reports:
Al Zayat said he sent an e-mail message four months ago through an Internet site, asking al-Zawahiri to discuss the attacks of September 11, 2001.
"Sir, please don't ask about that which ends with the promise of heaven. Don't stop new Muslims from taking up arms in jihad against America and killing them like they kill us," the message attributed to al-Zawahiri said.
The New York Times says "the message was apparently written in response to a call" from Al Zayat "that Al Qaeda should end its campaign against Americans."
There's no way to know if there's anything to this, or even if al-Zawahiri is still alive, but if the story is true, it's an indication that America is winning the war with al Qaeda, and winning big. Wherever al-Zawahiri is hiding out, he's not effectively communicating with the outside world; he's reduced to telecommuting with a four-month delay. And it would appear there's discord in the terrorist world. Al-Zawahiri, after all, founded Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which later became part of al Qaeda, now his own lawyer is telling him to knock it off with the jihad.
Sorry,
Hamdi
The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled once again that the government
has the authority to hold Yaser Esam Hamdi, a Louisiana-born Saudi-American,
as an enemy combatant:
Because it is undisputed that Hamdi was captured in a zone of active combat in a foreign theater of conflict, we hold that the submitted declaration is a sufficient basis upon which to conclude that the Commander in Chief has constitutionally detained Hamdi pursuant to the war powers entrusted to him by the United States Constitution. No further factual inquiry is necessary or proper, and we remand the case with directions to dismiss the petition [on Hamdi's behalf].
The decision is here, in PDF form; it takes a full seven pages to list all the assorted law profs and left-wing outfits that have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of Hamdi's "rights."
Saddam
Will Find This Gauling
"President Jacques Chirac ordered his armed forces to be 'ready for every
eventuality' yesterday, indicating to America that France would be prepared
to take part in a war against Iraq," London's Daily Telegraph reports.
So much for American unilateralism.
The Canadians still aren't on board, though. The National Post reports that "Canada's refusal to confirm its participation in a U.S-led war to depose Saddam Hussein has strained relations with the United States to the point that Canadian soldiers posted to Central Command in Florida have been excluded from important planning meetings."
Maybe the Canucks are still miffed about President Bush's Sept. 20, 2001, speech. The Toronto Globe and Mail reports former White House speechwriter David Frum, himself Canadian, describes his reaction to a draft of the speech in his just-published White House memoir:
"My stomach plunged as I read it: All references to Canada had been cut. The speech had been running long, and somebody had reasoned that if we mentioned Canada, we'd have to praise all the other NATO countries by name, too, and many of them had been much quicker than Canada to offer aid and assistance. . . . The omission stung and shamed Canadians with the power of a savage and unexpected slap."
He adds: "Had Bush been offended by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's boorishness in not attending the Ottawa [9/11] vigil? Was the Pentagon annoyed that Canada had not matched British and Australian offers of military assistance?
Had Americans at last reacted against the lax refugee laws that had made Canada a haven for Islamic terrorists? The answer was yes, yes and yes -- and no. Canada was not omitted to send some elliptical message. Canada was omitted because it is easy to forget friends whose governments give you no cause to remember them."
Frum's book, "The Right Man," is available for purchase at the OpinionJournal bookstore. CNN's Jonathan Karl has a review in today's Wall Street Journal.
Say
What?
"Chirac Praises France's Peacekeeping Role as Ivory Coast Casualties Mount"--headline,
New York Times, Jan. 8
'The
Socialism of Fools'
Michael Gove has a nice essay in the Times of London on European anti-Americanism:
Why then do the myths of America the Hateful take such powerful hold? Because anti-Americanism provides a useful emotional function which goes beyond logic and reaches deep into the darker recesses of the European soul. In centuries past those on the Left who wished to personalise their hatred of capitalism, who sought to make it emotionally resonant by fastening an envious political passion on to a blameless scapegoat people, embraced anti-Semitism. It was the socialism of fools. Which is what anti-Americanism is now.
It should not therefore be surprising that those on the populist Right who share the Left's antipathy towards the US are those, like the Austrian Freedom Party or the French National Front, who are heirs of anti-Semitic traditions. Nor should it be remarkable that the other tie which binds these allies of new Left and old Right together, the thread linking those such as George Galloway and Jörg Haider, is their hostility to Israel.
Both America and Israel were founded by peoples who were refugees from prejudice in Europe. Europe's tragedy is that prejudice has been given new life, in antipathy to both those states.
You Don't
Say--II
"Iraq Says U.S. Preparing for War"--headline, MSNBC.com, Jan. 8
Crazy
Drivers
The shooting hasn't even started yet, and one of those Canadian "human
shields" has already died. Seventy-three-year-old George Weber was "killed
when his truck rolled on an Iraqi highway," the National Post reports.
"A burst tire is being blamed."
What we want to know is, what are these "peace" activists doing riding around in trucks, instead of fuel-efficient hybrid cars? What an unconscionable waste of energy. The New York Times reports that an "author and columnist" with the unlikely name of Arianna Huffington is sponsoring TV ads saying that people who drive sport-utility vehicles "are supporting terrorists." Come to think of it, maybe this Arianna Huffington has a point. After all, Weber and his cohorts are supporting Saddam Hussein.
Hell
No, We Won't . . . Uh, Never Mind
Left-wing blogress Jeralyn Merritt notes that Michigan's Rep. John Conyers--who,
as Reuters
notes, has joined New York's Charles Rangel in calling for conscription so as
to make the U.S. military less effective--was a co-sponsor just last March of
a resolution "expressing the sense of Congress that reinstating the military
draft or implementing any other form of compulsory military service in the United
States would be detrimental to the long-term military interests of the United
States, violative of individual liberties protected by the Constitution, and
inconsistent with the values underlying a free society as expressed in the Declaration
of Independence."
The New York Times, meanwhile, claims Iraq has a "volunteer army."
Some
Helpful Advice From Our Friends the Saudis
"King Fahd Calls for Wisdom in Handling International Crises"--headline,
Arab News, Jan. 7
Saudi
Wisdom
From an editorial in today's Arab News:
There is a sense in which Hamas and the other extremist groups are actually playing the Israeli game. They may even be driven by agent provocateurs within their midst. The Zionists want more bombs, not peace. However even if tomorrow, the hard men in the Palestinian community brought an end to their suicide bombing campaign, the Israelis know just what to do. After a very public international sigh of relief, they would recommence their needling campaign of humiliation to provoke just a few extremists to renewed attacks. And then the whole awful bloodstained circus could start over again, and the Zionists could turn to the world with a despairing shrug and say "We tried, but look how they rewarded us!"
Destroying
the Village to Save It
The Jerusalem Post reports that a group affiliated with Yasser Arafat's Fatah
organization has published a leaflet defending suicide bombings as "martyrdom
operations, which are being carried out in self-defense."
The
Massacre That Wasn't--XXII
The Arab News picks up what appears to be a press release from an anti-Israeli
outfit called Palestine Chronicle, announcing a new book called "Searching Jenin,
Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Invasion, 2002":
The courageous reporters who combed the streets of Jenin, interviewed medical personnel, resistance fighters, and even children, including an 8 year old girl named Rund, who complained that the army broke her only doll.
A broken doll--that's a far cry from the atrocities the Palestinians were falsely claiming back in the spring.
Irony
Alert
"Plane Carrying Afghan Pilgrims to Mecca Hijacked; Incident Ends and All
Aboard Reported Safe in Dubai"--headline, Associated Press, Jan. 7
Where the Heck Is
Lakehurst U?--II
In an item
yesterday, we noted the mystery of Lakehurst University, a purported American
institution that had awarded an honorary degree to a Saudi businessman. Reader
Chris Myrick actually managed to find the Lakehurst Web site, which doesn't
seem to be accessible through any search engines. It's at www.lakehurst-u.org.
Why .org and not .edu, if it's a university? Educase.edu,
which administers the .edu domain, explains its membership requirements:
Eligibility for a .edu domain name is limited to regionally-accredited, degree-granting institutions of higher education that are accredited by one of the six U.S. regional accrediting agencies.
The Lakehurst Web site has links for "About Lakehurst," "Faculty and Staff," "Affiliated Universities," "Academic Calendar," "Admissions" and various other categories, all of which bring up a page that says simply: "Welcome, and thank you for your interest in Lakehurst University. We are in the process of updating this page, so please be sure to visit us at a later time." There is some information available under "Undergraduate Programs" and "Administration," but it's hard to see how there can be an undergraduate program without a faculty or staff.
As for our suggestion that an honorary degree from Lakehurst is no great honor, reader Matt Reilly begs to differ:
To the best of my knowledge neither Yasser Arafat nor Jimmy Carter has received an honorary degree from Lakehurst U, which puts that degree two steps above the Nobel Peace Prize.
Metric Television
Dozens of readers responded to our item
yesterday in which we asked what a "TV license" is. It turns out
that in many countries that use the metric system, the government imposes a
tax on the ownership of television sets, ostensibly to pay for government-run
networks.
It also turns out that the state of Ohio offers "commercial radio and TV license plates," which "may be issued to passenger vehicles, commercial trucks and motor homes and house vehicles" owned by "any resident of Ohio who holds an un-revoked and unexpired official radio broadcasting station or commercial television broadcasting station license issued by the FCC, may apply for these plates."
Stop
the Presses
The Knopf publishing house has ceased publication of "Arming America,"
historian Michael Bellesiles's sloppily researched and possibly fraudulent antigun
book. Bellesiles won Columbia University's Bancroft Prize for the book, but
Columbia withdrew the award after Emory University published an investigation
of Bellesiles's scholarly misconduct.
Reuters
Uncovers Bush/Cheney Plot
"U.S. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney each stand
to reap thousands of dollars in savings from Bush's proposal on Tuesday to eliminate
taxes on stock dividends," Reuters reports from Washington.
Uh oh, George and Dick, they're on to you! Reuters' crack investigative team has uncovered your nefarious plot to enrich yourselves to the tune of thousands of dollars! And we were wondering why you each gave up a lucrative position in the private sector to run for public office.
You
Don't Say--III
"Congress May Change Bush Plan"--headline, United Press International,
Jan. 7
Clubbing
the Bible
A pair of students at Monarch
High School in Louisville, Colo., are suing because the school refuses to
let them start a club that would "teach students biblical principles that
will help them in life," the Rocky Mountain News reports. School officials
cite "a policy limiting clubs to subjects related to the curriculum."
Superintendent George Garcia says a religious club would "intrude into [the]
area of personal and spiritual importance reserved for the family."
Sounds reasonable enough. But wait. Doesn't Monarch High have a "Gay/Straight Alliance"? Why yes, but that, Garcia says, is "a product of our health education."
History Repeats
Back in June, we
noted that New York state had promised to stop bowdlerizing historical readings
on its Regents Exam. Previously, educrats had cut passages that didn't conform
to "sensitivity review guidelines." But the New York Times reports
they're still at it:
In new guidelines, the state promised complete paragraphs with no deletions, but an excerpt from Kafka (on the importance of literature) changes his words and removes the middle of a paragraph without using ellipses, in the process deleting mentions of God and suicide.
The new state guidelines promised not to sanitize, but a passage on people's conception of time from Aldous Huxley (a product of England's colonial era) deletes the paragraphs on how unpunctual "the Oriental" is.
Another passage, on a 1918 flu epidemic, "cuts out the passages with the most harrowing and moving accounts of the epidemic, as when children played on piles of coffins stacked outside an undertaker's home. It removes virtually all references to government officials' mishandling the epidemic. It deletes the references to religious leaders like Billy Sunday, who promised that God would protect the virtuous, even as worshipers dropped dead at his services."
Not
Too Brite--XLI
"An 88-year old Dutchman was seriously injured when bright sunlight shining
through his magnifying glass set fire to his clothes or papers," Reuters
reports from Amsterdam. Oddly Enough!
Schizophrenic
Justice
"Miranda rights do apply to all of a person's multiple personalities, a
Helena [Mont.] District Court Judge ruled last week," the Helena Independent
Record reports:
Judge Thomas Honzel threw out several statements made by attempted deliberate homicide suspect, Tessa Haley, at the time of her arrest, on the basis that the statements made--presumably by a multiple personality of Haley's, named Martha--came after Haley exerted her right to have an attorney present.
Presumably if this becomes a nationwide rule, cops in the South will have any easier time than others carrying it out. After all, they have recourse to the second-person plural: "Y'all have a right to an attorney."
This
Prosecution Stinks
Prosecutors in Spokane, Wash., accuse two women, Kathleen Jenny and Virginia
Erickson, of running a million-dollars marijuana business. "Investigators
learned of their activities last summer when a bank teller called police to
say that the women's cash deposits smelled like marijuana." Perversely,
Jenny and Erickson have agreed to plead guilty to a crime they clearly didn't
commit: "money laundering."
Great
Moments in Tort Law
When a drug dealer murders a family by burning down its house, who's responsible?
According to lawyer Johnnie Cochran of O.J. Simpson fame, it's the city of Baltimore,
because, the Baltimore Sun reports, "the anti-drug 'Baltimore Believe'
campaign encouraged residents to speak out against dealers."
On
to Florida
Let's face it--the New York Giants deserved to lose on Sunday. Up 38-14 in the
third quarter, they managed to let the San Francisco 49ers score 25 unanswered
points, and any team that would blow a lead like that has no business winning.
Even so, the Giants wuz robbed. NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue acknowledges
that an officiating error cost the Giants an opportunity to kick a game-winning
field goal. But life is unfair; the Niners' 39-38 victory stands, and they rather
than the Giants face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this weekend.
But though the Giants won't be going to the Sunshine State, the situation is beginning to seem reminiscent of Florida 2000. New Jersey assemblyman Anthony Impreveduto is calling on the head of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which runs Giants Stadium, to sue the NFL, reports SportsLine.com. "New Jersey taxpayers may have been cheated of tax revenue the state would have earned from players' income and other Giants-related enterprises had the team advanced in the playoffs," Impreveduto writes in a letter to the sports authority president.
There's a bright spot for New York/New Jersey sports fans: The Jets are still in the playoffs. Their game, on Saturday, wasn't even close; they trounced the Indianapolis Colts, 41-0, in the two teams' first postseason meeting since Super Bowl III. The Jets' starting quarterback is Chad Pennington, but we're not sure if he has dimples.
(Elizabeth Crowley helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Jenifer Sawicki, Steve Prestegard, Raghu Desikan, Richard Miniter, Marie Bourgeois, Michael Segal, Charlie Gaylord, S.E. Brenner, Shawn Turk, Lorne McClenaghan, Jim Orheim, Barak Moore, Mark Schulze, Napoleon Cole, Shelley Taylor, Janice Lyons, Joel Engel, Abhijit Jain, Ed Graff, Paul Music, Anthony Brunsvold, Ryan Morgan, Shawn Mitchell, Arnold Nelson, Dennis Murphy, Seamus Britt, Jonathan Pittinsky, John Pope and Steve Baus. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
- Linda Chavez: Mr. Bush, this is no time to go wobbly on racial preferences.
- Claudia Rosett: The U.N. nurtures terrorists and lets real refugees fend for themselves.
- John Fund: The Democrats have a new front-runner--and it may not be who you think.
- Jonathan Karl reviews David Frum's "The Right Man."
