From the WSJ Opinion Archives
Ayman
al-YAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
Not all Democrats agree with Howard Dean that America is certain to lose in
Iraq, reports the Washington Post:
Several Democrats joined President Bush yesterday in rebuking Dean's declaration to a San Antonio radio station Monday that "the idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong."
The critics said that comment could reinforce popular perceptions that the party is weak on military matters and divert attention from the president's growing political problems on the war and other issues. "Dean's take on Iraq makes even less sense than the scream in Iowa: Both are uninformed and unhelpful," said Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Ga.), recalling Dean's famous election-night roar after stumbling in Iowa during his 2004 presidential bid.
Well, you read it here first. But all is not lost for the deranged doc. Reuters reports from Dubai that Dean's views have been echoed by an important figure in the international community:
Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged militants to attack oil targets in Muslim states and said Osama bin Laden was still leading its battle against the West. . . .
Zawahri said the United States had suffered a defeat in Iraq and it was only a matter of time before it pulled out its troops.
"Iraq is a catastrophe for America and Americans will leave, it will only be a matter of time.
"I say to Bush: You entered Iraq with lies, you will lose Iraq and lie about it and you will leave with the pretext that you have completed your mission. . . . America only has to decide on the number of (troops) it wishes to lose before withdrawing."
Writing in the liberal New Republic, Harvard law prof William Stuntz draws an interesting analogy between Iraq and the Civil War:
Toppling Saddam and seizing his chemical and biological weapons probably wasn't worth the sacrifice of 2,000-plus American lives (as long as nuclear weapons weren't in the picture). Similarly, control over the Mississippi wasn't worth the bloodletting across the length of the Confederacy's border that took place in Lincoln's first term.
Thankfully, Lincoln saw to it that the war's purpose changed. George W. Bush has changed the purpose of his war too, though the change seems more the product of our enemies' choices than of Bush's design. By prolonging the war, Zarqawi and his Baathist allies have drawn thousands of terrorist wannabes into the fight--against both our soldiers and Muslim civilians. When terrorists fight American civilians, as on September 11, they can leverage their own deaths to kill a great many of us. But when terrorists fight American soldiers, the odds tilt towards our side.
Equally important, by bringing the fight to a Muslim land, by making that land the central front of the war on Islamic terrorism, the United States has effectively forced Muslim terrorists to kill Muslim civilians. That is why the so-called Arab street is rising--not against us but against the terrorists, as we saw in Jordan after Zarqawi's disastrous hotel bombing. The population of the Islamic world is choosing sides not between jihadists and Westerners, but between jihadists and people just like themselves. We are, slowly but surely, converting bin Laden's war into a civil war--and that is a war bin Laden and his followers cannot hope to win.
Unless, that is, Dean and the other latter-day Copperhead Democrats prevail.
'The
Same Work'
The self-styled Christian Peacekeeper Teams, four of whose members are hostages
in Iraq, is pleading with their terrorist captors not to murder them tomorrow
as threatened, CNN reports:
The group, which has been stressing its opposition to "the invasion and occupation of Iraq," said in its statement that while it does not support kidnapping, it does not condemn the kidnappers for their actions.
"We recognize the humanity in each person, and respect it very much. This includes you, our colleagues, and all people," the statement said. "Perhaps you are men who only want to raise the issue of illegal detention. We don't know what you may have endured."
Saying "we also condemn our own governments for their actions in Iraq," the group said it wants to be a "force that counters all the resentment, the fear, the intimidation felt by the Iraqi people.
"Please, we appeal to your humanity to show mercy on our brothers and let them come back safely to us to continue our work. May God spare our friends, and all the people of Iraq any further suffering."
Now of course if someone were threatening to kill our friend, we might well offer insincere praise and sympathy in hope of persuading him to show mercy. But all indications are that these people actually believe this stuff. Consider this jaw-dropping Reuters report:
Katherine Fox's father, Tom Fox of Clearbrook, Virginia, is one of four Western aid workers that a group calling itself "Swords of Truth" has threatened to kill unless Iraqi detainees are released by Thursday.
In a transcript of an interview with ABC's "Nightline" programme, Fox said her father was in Iraq working on behalf of Iraqi detainees and their families.
She said she wanted to remind her father's captors that he opposed the U.S. occupation of Iraq and had campaigned against it.
"And that the work that he is there to do is the same work that they would like to see done. And that I do not think a loss of his life benefits their cause," Fox said.
If Katherine Fox says her father is on the same side as the terrorists who are threatening to kill him, who are we to disagree?
Safe, Legal
and Rare
Here's a very encouraging report from the Associated Press: Most Americans "say
torturing terrorism suspects is justified at least in rare instances, according
to AP-Ipsos polling":
"I don't think we should go out and string everybody up by their thumbs until somebody talks. But if there is definitely a good reason to get an answer, we should do whatever it takes," said Billy Adams, a retiree from Tomball, Texas.
In America, 61 percent of those surveyed agreed torture is justified at least on rare occasions.
This testifies to the essential moderation and good sense of the American people. We are not pro-torture; rather, we recognize that subjecting terrorists to aggressive interrogation tactics is a wrenching decision that is sometimes necessary in the pursuit of a greater good. Or, as Tom Holsinger says to Glenn Reynolds, we want torture to be safe, legal and rare.
In
Which Culture Is It Respectful?
"The most dramatic testimony [at Saddam Hussein's trial] came from the
woman identified only as 'Witness A,' who was a 16-year-old girl at the time
of the crackdown. Her voice breaking with emotion, she told the court of beatings
and electric shocks by the former president's agents. 'I was forced to take
off my clothes, and he raised my legs up and tied my hands. He continued administering
electric shocks and whipping me and telling me to speak,' Witness A said of
Wadah al-Sheik, an Iraqi intelligence officer who died of cancer last month
while in American custody. . . . Such treatment of a young woman is
gravely offensive in traditional Arab culture."--Associated Press, Dec. 6
The
Missing Slurs
"Survivors from New Orleans told a congressional panel on Tuesday they
felt abandoned by government at all levels after Hurricane Katrina hit the city
and had been subjected to racial slurs and menaced by guns when they sought
food and water," Reuters "reports" from Washington.
Yet while the headline reads "Hurricane Victims Tell US Congress of Racial Slurs," this is the closest the dispatch comes to delivering (ellipsis in original):
Leah Hodges, a community activist, recalled trying to help a group of stranded senior citizens. The military took them to an evacuation point on a highway where they spent the night, awakening to a "bunch of hard red necks scowling and growling at us in military uniforms . . . pointing guns at us and treating us worse than prisoners of war," she said.
Now, maybe the witnesses actually did testify that they were subjected to racial slurs. But it's curious that the only slur to appear in the Reuters account is one directed against the military by one of the aggrieved witnesses.
Journalistic
Accountability
Barbra Streisand has canceled her subscription to the Los Angeles Times to protest
the paper's overdue defenestration of Angry Left windbag Robert Scheer. The
Times published an abridged version of a letter announcing the decision, and
now she has posted both the original letter and the redacted version on her
Web site. We know, ho hum, but we got a chuckle out of this passage:
In light of the obvious step away from the principals [sic] of journalistic integrity, which would dictate that journalists be journalists, editors be editors and accountants be accountants, I am now forced to carefully reconsider which sources can be trusted to provide me with accurate, unbiased news and forthright opinions.
If you're an accountant, do your part for journalistic integrity by being an accountant!
Handel
With Care
By and large we agree with those who prefer to call Christmas "Christmas,"
rather than those who insist on the generic "holiday," which is supposedly
more palatable to Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Shintoists, Unitarians,
Zoroastrians, Taoists, Sikhs, deists, pantheists, atheists, agnostics and adherents
of the Baha'i faith, even though we fall into one of those 14 categories. But
the effort to be sensitive to non-Christians can lead to some very funny results.
This is from the Web site of the Houston Symphony:
Handel's Messiah
By Conductor Christopher SeamanBoth an awe-inspiring holiday tradition and a memorable religious experience, Handel's Messiah returns this holiday season. Guest conductor Christopher Seaman leads Houston's premier performance of Handel's choral masterwork, which includes the timeless Hallelujah Chorus.
If they really want to be sensitive to those who can't stomach "Christmas," shouldn't they change the name of the work to, say, Handel's "Dude"?
As Sure as Night Follows Day
"There were no grades, pop quizzes or textbooks. But a speech by former Vice President Al Gore at Stanford University on Tuesday night offered more than 1,000 pupils a crash course in global warming."--San Jose Mercury News, Dec. 7
"Record Low Temperatures in Parts of U.S."--headline, Associated Press, Dec. 7
What
Happened to McVicker?
"The Highland High School principal is in jail after police say they caught
him trying to swallow a small bag of cocaine. Anthony Trujillo faces an $18,000
cash-only bond--and a judge in Catron County."--KOAT-TV Web site (Albuquerque,
N.M.), Dec. 5
Thanks
for the Tip!--XXIII
"Health Tip: Don't Be Afraid to Ask Questions About Your Health"--headline,
HealthDayNews, Dec. 7
Let
Them Eat Cake
"Skepticism Seems to Erode Europeans' Faith in Rice"--headline, New
York Times, Dec. 7
A
Vein Pursuit
"Canada Considers More Heroin Injection Sites"--headline, Agence France-Presse,
Dec. 6
Tiny
Bubbles, in My Veins, Make Me Feel Sickly, Cause Me Great Pain
"Legendary Hawaiian Singer Don Ho Recovering From Stem Cell Procedure on
His Heart"--subheadline, ABCNews.com, Dec. 7
Her
AAA Membership Paid Off
"Evangelist Graham's Daughter Gets Deal on Battery Charge"--headline,
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Dec. 6
'I'd
Kill for a Drink Right Now'
"Murderer Denied Admission to Bar in Ariz."--headline, Associated
Press, Dec. 7
This
Is Going to Mean Long Lines
"Bill to Let Woman Stay in National Park Stalls"--headline, Rocky
Mountain News, Dec. 7
The
Plumber's Coveralls or the Tweed Three-Piece?
"Court Favors Doctors in Lesbian's Suit"--headline, San Diego Union-Tribune,
Dec. 3
Bottom
Story of the Day
"Stocks Are Barely Mixed on Little News"--headline, Associated Press,
Dec. 7
Homer
Nods
Florida's hockey team, the Everblades, play at a Germain arena, not a German
one as we said yesterday. We're not sure where Germainy is, but we know it's
cold there.
Pagan
vs. Pagan
From the crime beat at the Daytona Beach (Fla.) News-Journal, this story from
Palm Coast:
It was close to midnight on Sunday and Jill Pagan--who practices paganism and calls herself a witch--was getting settled into bed when she heard a crash. It sounded like something might have fallen.
Upon investigation, Pagan discovered that her home's white aluminum door had a large gash in it. And just to the right, a large chunk of concrete was sitting in a flowerpot with a note attached to it by rubber bands. She immediately recognized a handwritten note in an ancient language called Theban, which she said is used almost exclusively by witches. . . .
Pagan later translated the message as, " 'You've been warned. Stop what you're doing,' " she said Monday. And it was a way to scare her, her husband and daughter.
Pagan thinks the suspect is someone known to the local pagan community-- perhaps another pagan familiar with Theban script.
Well, we hate to make light of such a serious crime, but with a pagan named Pagan, it's hard to keep track of which witch is which.
(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Paul Dyck, Ed Lasky, Tom Linehan, Andrew Miller, Ray Hendel, Monty Krieger, Curt Schmidt, Stephan Levy, Kristian Pfieffer, Douglas Segal, David Schlosser, Jack Carter, Chris Scibelli, Christopher Marciano, Paul Gross, Mary Ellen Lewis, Jim Orheim, Greg Askins, Lance Van Auken, Don Hubschman, Mary Pinkowish, Jonathan Ross, Edward Schulze, Edward Friedman, Dan O'Shea, Peter Nichols, Abe Beyda, Randolph Chapman, Tim Knight, Bernie Slattery, Ruth Papazian, Christopher Cape, Jim Anderson, Garry Mullenix, Tom Smithdeal, Michael Justice, Harald Stavenas, Ray Vance and Kevin Pohl. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
- Review & Outlook: Mock outrage over "secret" terror prisons.
- Donald Rumsfeld: Why aren't the media telling the whole story about Iraq?
- Max Boot: What Leonard Wood can teach today's America about running an empire.
