From the WSJ Opinion Archives
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Firemen
vs. Birds
Yesterday we
noted that the International Association of Fire Fighters has begun a campaign
questioning Rudy Giuliani's 9/11 leadership. The union faults the former mayor
for acts of omission that, it argues, made the 9/11 toll worse.
It turns out there was another Giuliani-era decision that might have cost lives--this time of civilians--on 9/11, and it was made at the urging of the fire department. On Oct. 23, 2001, The Wall Street Journal reported that a possible escape route for people in the upper floors of the north tower was unavailable:
The doors to the roof were locked.
Outside, hovering just a few hundred feet away from hundreds of workers trapped above the inferno, were New York police-rescue helicopters. Crews from the Brooklyn headquarters of the police-aviation bureau had scrambled at the first radio call of an explosion at the trade center. Of the two choppers that arrived within five minutes of the plane crash, one was a Bell 412 equipped with a 250-foot hoist and capable of carrying as many as 10 survivors at a time. The three-man crew was specially trained for rooftop rescues.
As the police pilots swooped in and peered through a smoke-free area on top of the north tower, however, they saw no one to save. People were still alive on the top floors, according to the New York Fire Department. But Greg Semendinger, the first chopper pilot on the scene, says, "There was nobody on the roof."
Why? Eight years earlier, when the trade center was bombed but not destroyed, police helicopters rescued 28 people from the north tower's roof:
Rather than reinforce the life-saving potential of rooftop rescues, the police department's daring helicopter operation in 1993 had the opposite effect. After the garage bombing, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owned the World Trade Center, and the fire department made a deliberate decision not to plan for future helicopter rescues, officials with the two agencies say.
The agencies rejected recommendations from police pilots that an area of the north tower's roof be kept clear for helicopter landings. . . . And mostly for security reasons, the Port Authority kept the two sets of heavy metal doors leading to the building's only roof exit tightly locked--as they would be on the morning of Sept. 11.
Part of the explanation for this decision in the wake of the 1993 blast was an intense feud then raging between the city's fire and police departments over who had control at emergencies. The fire department, which has no helicopters of its own, dismissed the 1993 rooftop rescue as grandstanding. Fire commanders said the mission was dangerous and unnecessary. And they said any future evacuations should be carried out by fire personnel from the ground.
In fairness to the fire department, the Journal notes that "the FDNY's aversion to helicopter rescues is the mainstream approach around the country." Authorities generally encourage people in a burning building to head down, not up.
Then again, New York's fire code requires rooftop access in case of emergency. But because the Port Authority is a public agency, it is exempt. The Journal reports that the fire department "went along with the authority's policy of keeping the trade center roof exits locked."
In hindsight, it seems clear that the police had the better of this argument. But without benefit of hindsight, the fire department's view no doubt seemed entirely reasonable. Since no one is omniscient, the test of hindsight is one on which almost everyone is bound to come up short. That Giuliani's pre-Sept. 11 priorities did not anticipate 9/11 is no indictment of his post-Sept. 11 leadership.
Messing
With Mesopotamia
When we see references to al Qaeda in Iraq, we sometimes refer humorously to
it as "al Qaeda Which Has Nothing to Do With Iraq in Iraq Which Has Nothing
to Do With al Qaeda." We're only joking, but the New York Times has incorporated
a similar formulation into its stylebook, as public editor Clark Hoyt explained
Sunday:
Susan Chira, the foreign editor, said she takes "great pride in the whole of our coverage" but acknowledged that the paper had used "excessive shorthand" when referring to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. "We've been sloppy," she said. She and other editors started worrying about it, Chira said, when the American military began an operation in mid-June against what it said were strongholds of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.
On Thursday, she and her deputy, Ethan Bronner, circulated a memo with guidelines on how to distinguish Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia from bin Laden's Al Qaeda.
It's a good move. I'd have been happier still if The Times had helped its readers by doing a deeper job of reporting on the administration's drive to make Al Qaeda the singular enemy in Iraq.
Hoyt refers to "al Qaeda in Mesopotamia" as "an Iraqi group that didn't even exist until after the American invasion"--even though its founder, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was not Iraqi but Jordanian. At the same time, the Times persists in calling it al Qaeda in Mesopotamia--using a less well known name that is more or less a synonym for Iraq in order to obscure the Iraq-al Qaeda connection.
But are Times reporters revolting against this diktat? Today's paper carries an article titled "Bush Distorts Qaeda Links, Critics Assert":
His references to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, and his assertions that it is the same group that attacked the United States in 2001, have greatly oversimplified the nature of the insurgency in Iraq and its relationship with the Qaeda leadership.
There is no question that the group is one of the most dangerous in Iraq. But Mr. Bush's critics argue that he has overstated the Qaeda connection in an attempt to exploit the same kinds of post-Sept. 11 emotions that helped him win support for the invasion in the first place.
Interestingly, the position that the story attributes to "Mr. Bush's critics" is one that the paper's news editors have endorsed, as Hoyt points out. Yet to their credit, reporters Michael Gordon and Jim Rutenberg also marshal evidence supporting the Bush position:
While the membership of the group is mostly Iraqi, the role that foreigners play is crucial.
Abu Ayyub al-Masri is an Egyptian militant who emerged as the successor of Mr. Zarqawi, who was killed near Baquba in an American airstrike last year. American military officials say that 60 to 80 foreign fighters come to Iraq each month to fight for the group, and that 80 to 90 percent of suicide attacks in Iraq have been conducted by foreign-born operatives of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. . . .
War critics have often played down the significance of the group despite its gruesome record of suicide attacks and its widely suspected role in destroying a Shiite shrine in Samarra in February 2006 that set Iraq on the road to civil war.
The report also notes that Ayman al-Zawahiri, the No. 2 figure in what we guess we're supposed to call al Qaeda Outside Mesopotamia, has spoken out on behalf of the supposedly disconnected Iraqi version of al Qaeda:
Just last week, Mr. Zawahri called on Muslims to travel to Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia to carry out their fight against the Americans and appealed for Muslims to support the Islamic State in Iraq, an umbrella group that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia has established to attract broader Sunni support.
Credit where due: Gordon and Rutenberg have produced a report that is fair and balanced despite their editors' endorsement of the "war critics' " views.
Uncle
Deval Wants You
"Nearly 12 percent of Army recruits who entered basic training this year
needed a special waiver for those with criminal records, a dramatic increase
over last year and 2 1/2 times the percentage four years ago, according
to new Army statistics obtained by the [Boston] Globe," the paper reports.
The news story strikes a tone of mild alarm:
But former military officials and defense specialists said they fear that enlisting more soldiers with criminal backgrounds will increase the risk of disciplinary problems and criminal activity among soldiers in uniform.
"Somebody who has demonstrated themselves [sic] to be guilty of misbehavior in civilian life has a good chance of behaving in the same way in the military," said John Hutson, judge advocate general of the Navy until 2000 and now dean of the Franklin Pierce Law Center at the University of New Hampshire.
Hutson said he witnessed the consequences of allowing former criminal offenders to join the ranks in the 1970s, the last time the military enlisted high numbers of soldiers with criminal histories. The numbers of recruits with criminal pasts who were allowed to join in the 1970s is not available, according to the Army. But Hutson said such soldiers often showed up in military court for committing new offenses.
So what does the Globe think we should do with ex-cons? Give them jobs in Massachusetts state government! This is from a May 22 editorial:
People convicted of crimes in Massachusetts aren't exiled to faraway Devil's Island or Siberia, and the vast majority of those sent to prison in the state do get out at some point. So then what? Ex-cons are less likely to fall back into crime if they can establish law-abiding lives upon their release. . . .
Government agencies, including HHS [the Executive Office of Health and Human Services], need to be willing at least to hear low-risk offenders out. . . . Parole Board chairwoman Maureen Walsh put the issue succinctly. "If we're going to tell people to take a risk on hiring people, we as the state have to do it. If the state itself isn't doing it, how do we dare ask other people to do it?"
Gaining sympathy for offenders is never easy. But public safety demands an honest effort to get ex-cons into steady jobs.
It seems the Globe is full of "sympathy for offenders"--except when it can use antipathy toward them to diminish sympathy for the military.
Arafat
Theory Resurfaces
After Yasser Arafat died in 2004, we noted
speculation that Arafat might have died of AIDS. Arafat's Palestinian foes are
reviving such speculation. The Middle East Media Research Institute has an excerpt
from an interview with Ahmad Jibril of the Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine-General Command:
When Abu Mazen [Arafat's successor] came to Damascus with his team, I asked them: "What happened to the investigation into the death of Abu Ammar [Arafat]?" . . . They were silent, and then one of them said to me: "To be honest, the French gave us the medical report, that stated that the cause of Abu Ammar's death was AIDS." I am not saying this, they did.
YnetNews, meanwhile, reports that "Palestinian infighting has moved from the streets to the TV set, as rival factions Fatah and Hamas carry out smear campaigns against each other through their local channels in the West Bank and Gaza":
Hamas has been using its official television station al-Aqsa TV in the Gaza Strip to broadcast documents and tapes allegedly found in the [Palestinian Authority's] headquarters.
Hamas sources claim that such documents are proof of "corruption, collaboration with Israel and a total lack of morals, including homosexual relations between officials."
Both the PFLP-GC and Hamas are bitter rivals of Arafat's Fatah, so take their claims with an appropriate measure of salt.
'Obama
Is the Woman'
A few months ago, we wrote an
item in which we quoted abortion advocate Kate Michelman, who claimed that
in contrast to the other presidential candidates (including Hillary Clinton),
John Edwards "understands the reality of women's lives." We humorously
observed that Michelman had "been won over by John Edwards's womanly charms,"
and this made Salon's Glenn
Greenwald very, very angry:
The whole Taranto item makes cute little references to how very womanly John Edwards is. . . . I'm going to periodically chronicle this psychologically twisted tactic used continously [sic] by the Bush-following right-wing movement because, as I documented several days ago, this mentality lies at the heart of what they do. . . .
It is critical to keep in mind why so many right-wing followers have this compulsive need to feminize Democrats and liberals while (both explicitly and by effect) masculinizing themselves. . . .
We ought to have political discourse that is free of these sorts of adolescent, psychologically warped personal smears. But we don't. The right-wing political movement that has dominated the country for the last six years (at least) thrives on them. It is their nourishment.
Here's the latest example of this adolescent, twisted and warped political discourse:
Throughout history, American presidents have been men's men who puff their out chests against evil. . . . But on the Democratic campaign trail these days, where the first woman in U.S. history is making a serious run at the White House, gender roles are being swapped.
When Obama travels the country, he does not appear to worry much about posing with guns or wearing those khaki workman jackets that made Kerry look so silly in 2004. Instead, he sings an empowerment ballad on the stump that would make most lady folk singers proud. . . .
In contrast, Hillary Clinton has run her campaign with all the muscular vision and authority of the macho candidates of yesteryear. . . .
Clara Oleson . . . explained all these distinctions on a riverbank in Iowa City last week. . . . "Obama is the female candidate. Obama is the woman," she said. . . . So what does that make Hillary Clinton? "She is the male candidate--in your face, authoritative, know-it-all."
Who is this Clara Oleson, and why does she sound so much like Ann Coulter? Actually, the article we are quoting describes her as "an Iowa Democrat and former labor lawyer" who is backing "the female candidate"--that is, Obama.
The article is written by Michael Scherer, who is one of Greenwald's colleagues at Salon. Let him have it, Glenn! Don't forget to include an unflattering photo or two.
He
Still Has to Do Community Service
"Scooter to Help Assess Disabled Access on Bellevue's Sidewalks"--headline,
Seattle Times, July 13
Life Imitates the Onion
- "Single Bee Sends Gathering of Humans Into Helpless Panic"--headline,
Onion,
June 16
- " 'Killer' Wasps menace State Department"--headline, Associated Press, July 13
You
Tell Me It's the Institution
"Physicists Campaign to Free a Jailed Ecoterrorists's Mind"--headline,
Chicago Tribune, July 13, 2007
Tires
Spitting Gravel, I Commit My Weekly Crime
"If one of the more extreme responses to global warming comes true, driving
a sports car anywhere but on a racetrack might be relegated to history's dustbin.
Fast, powerful cars within a few years may be outlawed in Europe, an idea that
has been raised ostensibly because Ferraris and Porsches produce too much carbon
dioxide."--Bloomberg, July 10, 2007
It
Took Too Long to Drive Through Customs
"Boundary Official Fired Over Blaine Wall"--headline, Bellingham (Wash.)
Herald, July 12
That
Explains All the Leaves on the Trading Floor
"Families Buy Shares in Forest"--headline, Addison (Vt.) Independent,
July 8
'Why
Bother Introducing Good Legislation When the Dems Will Just Vote It Down Anyway?'
"Republican Lawmaker Introduces Subprime Legislation"--headline, Reuters,
July 12
News You Can Use
- "Eating Humans Is Hazardous to Your Health"--headline, Wireless
Flash News, July 12
- " 'Private' Online Photos Really Aren't"--headline, Associated Press, July 12
Bottom Stories of the Day
- "Farmers Not Applying for Loans"--headline, News
Courier (Athens, Ala.), July 7
- "Palestinians Throw Rocks at Israeli Car"--headline, Jerusalem
Post, July 12
- "Jimmy Carter Writing Memoir About Mother"--headline, Associated Press, July 12
Great
Moments in Public Education
A group of young Virginians might have hoped to make high marks in school, but
they probably weren't expecting to get Marx. But that's what they got, as Richmond
Times-Dispatch columnist Ray McAllister explains:
Graduates from Richmond's Binford Middle School get a diplomalike certificate, signed by the teacher and principal. It is ringed by six graphic marks, including icons of a notebook, an apple, the school mascot and such. Then there is a picture of a man. And who is this icon of American education? . . .
It's Karl Marx!
It turns out the choice was made by a teacher, whom the columnist doesn't name. We're not sure whether to be relieved or alarmed that it turns out to be a case of ignorance, not indoctrination:
Richmond schools spokeswoman Felicia Cosby called last night to explain: "[The teacher] really thought she was capturing clip art representing Frederick Douglass. She did a search to pull up Frederick Douglass and this is what came up . . . with the beard and the hair."
We did Google Images searches for Marx and Douglass, and we don't see any obviously misplaced portraits, at least on the first page of each search's results. Then again, there are some similarities, especially in images of both men when they were older: Each had a mane of white hair and a full beard, also white.
But Marx's hairline had receded further, and his beard was bushier, than Douglass's. Also, Douglass was black, whereas Marx, in addition to being red, was white.
So maybe the teacher deserves credit for embracing the ideal of colorblindness.
(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Heather Higgins, Daniel Simon, Michael Segal, Ray Giorard, Anil Adyanthaya, Kathy Rowlands, Joel Goldberg, Ed Lasky, Stefan Sharkansky, Abe Beyda, Keith Flanagan, Michael Lieber, Peter Dexter, Chris Hardy, Evan Hamilton, Ellen Forshaw, Bill Schweber, Jeffrey Dohanyos, Evan Slatis, Jason Woodward, Paul Boyer, Steve Karass, David Bowman, Mike Moore and James Brothers. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
- Michael O'Hanlon and Jason Campbell: Metrics have their drawbacks in war, but we need to keep politicians honest in this debate.
- Kim Strassel: The McCain-Feingold effect: Where has all the money gone?
- Peggy Noonan: We can't fire the president right now, so we're waiting it out.
- The Journal Editorial Report: Tune in this weekend for a discussion of Iraq.
And on the Taste page:
- Bret Stephens: Naval gazing: A top-gun fantasy comes true.
- Christian Sahner: New classes--and video games--teach young people about philanthropy.
- Raymond Arroyo: The pope brings back the Latin Mass.
