by JAMES TARANTO
Friday, November 30, 2001 3:32 P.M. EST

Hey, Isn't There a War On?
"There's a saying in Pakistan that mass murderers have more respect than musicians," Salman Ahmad, lead guitarist of the Pakistani rock band Junoon, tells critic Julie Salamon of the New York Times (link requires registration). Well, Pakistan may love mass murderers, but here in America it seems even a battle isn't as important as a Beatle. The death of George Harrison has all but blacked out war news from the news channels, so if anyone hears anything about what's going on in Afghanistan, please let us know.

We're just kidding, of course. It's been a hard day's night, and we've been working like a dog to bring you the latest news, so read on.

Target: Tora Bora
"America is planning how best to attack the Tora Bora mountain cave complex where Osama bin Laden and al-Qa'eda leaders are believed to be hiding," London's Daily Telegraph reports. Haji Zaman Ghamsharik, "Washington's favourite warlord in the region," tells the paper that bin Laden's backers "have refused all our overtures and we have begun to work on a plan of attack."

A Kabul dispatch from the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting says Osama narrowly escaped a U.S. missile strike last month:

Amin, a 23-year-old Afghan recruit to the Islamic militant cell, told how, at the end of October, Bin Laden had come to spend the night at the Beni Hissar camp--an al-Qaeda headquarters run by a Sudanese called Abdul Aziz--on the southern outskirts of Kabul. "He came with a convoy of 120 bodyguards," he said.

When Bin Laden arrived at the camp, he told Aziz that he would leave at eight o'clock the next morning. "But then he got up at five, said his prayers and left," said Amin. Soon afterwards everyone in the camp was ordered to get out "because we were told there was a cruise missile strike coming," he went on. The missiles hit at eight o'clock. . . .

There is little or no warning that a missile strike is imminent, which implies that Bin Laden has at least some, extremely reliable sources of information.

In Allah We Trust. All Others Pay Cash.
The Washington Post interviews Mohammed Khaksar, a former top Talib who's defected, who tells the paper that when bin Laden called on Taliban officials, "he often brought wads of cash and distributed it freely--sometimes taking out $50,000, even $100,000 at a time." In return, the mass-murdering moneybags got the freedom to operate his al Qaeda terrorist network from Afghanistan without interference. 'There wasn't anybody who had power over Osama,' Khaksar said. 'He did whatever he wanted.' "

Khaksar also describes the Taliban's response to Sept. 11:

The day after the attacks, senior Taliban officials, except for [top Talib Mullah Mohammad] Omar, met in a palace in Kabul to discuss what to do.

"I told the other ministers, 'I told you before the guy [bin Laden] would do something bad, and now it will have a bad effect on Afghanistan,' " Khaksar said. "They told me: 'You're going crazy. You shouldn't speak so much.' They said Osama hasn't done such a thing, but if he has done it, it's a good thing that he did. I told them these civilian people who died and these two buildings, they were God's creation. They weren't military soldiers; they were civilians. God will be angry that this was done."

'Teach Them a Lesson'
A Taliban spokesman, meanwhile, quotes Mullah Omar as calling "on all Taliban to resist Afghan opposition forces and US Marines and to 'teach them a lesson,' " the Associated Press reports. "The fight has now begun. It is the best opportunity to achieve martyrdom," Omar is quoted as saying. We trust the Marines will help him "achieve martyrdom" very soon.

Whose Side Are They On?
The Times of London reports that "members of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) have entered Afghanistan with the task of tracking bin Laden and frustrating al-Qaeda's search for a base in Pakistan." But "Western intelligence agencies fear that middle-ranking officials of ISI may not fully co-operate with General Musharraf's anti-bin Laden campaign. Most have worked closely with the Taleban regime which until recently was backed by Islamabad."

'Street' Smart
A typically perceptive Washington Post column by Charles Krauthammer:

The Taliban's collapse shattered two myths: Islamic invincibility and American weakness--myths amplified over eight years by the Clinton administration's empty gestures and demonstrable impotence in the face of Islamic terror.

The Islamic street exploded after Sept. 11, not because of rage--the rage is there always--but because of triumphalism. The war that began with the 1983 bombings in Beirut had finally been taken to the American homeland. America lay bleeding, "filled with horror and fear from north to south and east to west," bin Laden boasted. This was their day and they were going to seize it.

Turns out it is not their day. Osama was wrong. America is no paper tiger. The street now knows it. The world knows it. Which is why it is time for us to seize the moment.

Krauthammer urges America to "go for the low-hanging fruit"--terrorists in the Philippines, Sudan, Syria, Libya and Yemen--before attacking Saddam Hussein.

'The Israeli Occupation of Congress'
Raeed Tayeh, an aide to Rep. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia, pens a viciously anti-Israel letter to the Hill, a weekly newspaper of Congress (it's the third on the page):

To the Editor: Regarding your Nov. 21 article ("Jewish lawmakers blast Bush on Palestinian statehood position"), I find it disturbing that the members quoted seem to care more about Israel than human rights and American values. . . .

What is more disturbing to me is that many of these pro-Israeli lawmakers sit on the House International Relations Committee despite the obvious conflict of interest that their emotional attachments to Israel cause.

The Israeli occupation of all territories must end, including Congress.

Evan Gahr reports on JewishWorldReview.com that McKinney has given Tayeh the ax, though she herself has a history of bigoted and obnoxious comments.

Our Friends the Oregonians
Three Oregon cities are now balking at Justice Department requests to interview Middle Eastern men who've arrived recently in America in hopes of finding information about terrorists. Joining Portland are the college town of Corvallis, and the Beaver State's second-largest city, Eugene, whose police chief, Jim Hill, tells the New York Times (link requires registration) that "he would be willing to commit 'a couple officers' to help federal officials, but only if the interviews were modified to ease concerns about racial profiling."

Here's our question: Why Oregon? We haven't heard a peep of objection from the usual hotbeds of liberal wackodom, like Berkeley, Calif., and Madison, Wis. Is this payback for John Ashcroft's efforts to stop Oregonians from killing off their old and sick?

The Case for Tribunals
In National Review, Robert Bork weighs in with a strong defense of President Bush's plan to try suspected terrorists before military tribunals:

Trials in federal courts have features that make them totally inappropriate for the trial of terrorists. Jurors often respond to emotional appeals, and, in any event, would have good reason to fear for their and their families' safety if they convicted. Criminal trials have been adorned by judges with a full panoply of procedural hurdles that guarantee a trial of many months. . . .

The conclusive argument, however, is that in open trials our government would inevitably have to reveal much of our intelligence information, and about the means by which it is gathered. Charles Krauthammer notes that in the trial of the bombers of our embassies in Africa, the prosecution had to reveal that American intelligence intercepted bin Laden's satellite phone calls: "As soon as that testimony was published, Osama stopped using the satellite system and went silent. We lost him. Until Sept. 11." Disclosures in open court would inform not only Middle Eastern terrorists but all the intelligence services of the world of our methods and sources.

Bork adds: "If there is a problem with Bush's order, it is the exemption of U.S. citizens from trials before military tribunals. . . . The trial of American terrorists in criminal court would pose all the problems of trying foreign terrorists there."

The New York Times (links require registration) also has an op-ed defending the plan, from White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales. But Times columnist Anthony Lewis (link requires registration) gets downright hysterical in his opposition to tribunals:

"It's worth remembering that the order applies only to noncitizens," a Wall Street Journal editorial said. I hope The Journal's editors, who are usually supportive of immigrants and their role in building this country, will consider the pall of fear this order may put on millions of noncitizens.

Hey Tony, why stop at millions? The world has billions of non-U.S. citizens.

Banning the Military
America is at war, yet many high schools, especially in New England, refuse to allow military recruiters on campus, Fox News reports. "The latest Department of Defense statistics, from July of 2001, show that 31 percent of public schools in the U.S. deny the military access to two or more of their recruiting services." Rep. Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican, is sponsoring legislation that would require public schools to assist in military recruitment efforts.

While he's at it, Isakson should target law schools. In a Fox News commentary, David Delaney, who heads the Boston College Law School Veterans Association, notes that "a significant portion of America's law students confront faculty-imposed limits on military recruiting that severely restrict students' efforts to explore military law careers"--this despite a 1997 legal provision known as the Solomon Amendment "that requires law schools to provide equal access to students for military and civilian recruiters":

In response, many faculties justify their policies by invoking an obligation as members of the Association of American Law Schools that prohibits the use of career services facilities by employers who discriminate based on sexual orientation. Unfortunately, these policies do not comport with Congress' superior charge to provide military and civilian recruiters with equal access to students.

Glenn Reynolds, a professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law, notes on his InstaPundit.com site that "this goes on at my school, too. We had some lengthy faculty meetings about it, but the school wasn't willing to stand up to the AALS. I'm sending a copy of the FoxNews story to my dean, who I'm sure will be overjoyed to have another problem on his plate." It sounds as though Congress or the Education Department should put some teeth into the Solomon Amendment by actually withholding federal money from noncompliant schools.

Cops on the Couch
The New York City Police Department is ordering every cop in the city to have his head examined. The New York Times (link requires registration) reports that they must all "attend mental health counseling to relieve the stress and strain imposed by the attack on the World Trade Center and its aftermath."

The Latest 'Victims' of Sept. 11
On a party-line vote, the Federal Election Commission has rejected a Democratic National Committee request to waive regulations on "soft money" expenditures. "The DNC said it canceled or postponed at least eight fund-raisers in the three weeks after the terrorist attacks, depriving it of an anticipated $1.65 million, most of that soft money," the Associated Press reports. Says DNC lawyer Joe Sandler: "It means we are going to have to scramble for money harder the next couple of months."

Hear that sound? It's the world's smallest violin, and it's playing for the Democratic National Committee.

Stupidity Watch
Remember those two feminist nuts who, as we noted Monday, think that being free to wear a bikini is almost as bad as being forced to wear a burkha? They have a soulmate in WorldNetDaily's Joseph Farah, who, in an article attacking the idea of making MTV available to the Arab world, writes: "Exporting MTV would only serve to confirm Islam's worst fears and most accurate suspicions about the West--that we are a people who exploit women in crueler and more effective ways than the Taliban ever considered. We turn them into sex objects."

A Washington Times report on the State of the Black World conference offers some choice quotes from black "leaders":

"While the rest of the country waves the flag of Americana, we understand we are not part of that."--Mayor Bill Campbell of Atlanta

"We don't owe America anything; America owes us."--Al Sharpton

"The extreme right wing has seized the government. Tonight, Ashcroft and the CIA and the FBI and Homeland Security and the IRS can work together, so look out. Because without a definition of who is a terrorist, anyone can be. . . . Martin Luther King could have been . . . Malcolm X, the Black Panthers. The right-wing media, the FBI, they are targeting our leadership. . . . If we can win in 2002, we can empower 40 of our black leaders. Maxine [Waters] becomes a No. 1 congressional leader . . . and we can put on trial the Ashcroft contingent."--Jesse Jackson

Reuters Goes Monkeyfishing
Reuters reports that Al Gore told a Nigerian audience that he's become a restaurateur. "We have started a family restaurant in Tennessee and we are running it ourselves. It is a low-cost restaurant," he said. "I am also a visiting professor or VP for short."

Sounds to us as though Reuters was fooled by Gore's well-known impish sense of humor. Reports the New York Daily News (fourth item): "When we called his office for a menu, they said they knew nothing about the enterprise and suggested that something was lost in the translation of the Reuters story."

Playing both sides
The Daily News reports that the group of investors that are backing the new New York Sun also plan to buy two-thirds of The New Republic from sole owner Martin Peretz. Peretz, however, earlier this week denied TNR is for sale.

Gilmore Calls It Quits
Republican National Committee chairman Jim Gilmore has resigned. The Washington Post reports he "cited his desire to spend more time with his wife and two sons as the primary reason for quitting," but presumably the losses of governorships in New Jersey and Gilmore's home state, Virginia, had something to do with it.

'Renegade Santas'
Santa Claus may be coming to town after all. The Washington Times reports the town of Kensington, Md., is expecting "renegade Santas" to show up at Sunday's tree-lighting ceremony. As we noted Wednesday, the town banned Santa in deference to two Jewish families.

Our Ever-Expanding Rights
David Fawcett has received a $5,525 check from his insurance company--compensation for a marijuana crop Ontario, Calif., police seized from his yard. "He successfully argued that a clause in his homeowner policy referring to the theft of trees, shrubs and other plants covered the police's seizure of 40 plants," the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reports.

Down in Florida, Dave Flood is challenging a state ban on "dwarf tossing." Flood, who stands 3-foot-2, "wants to wear a harness with handles so patrons at bars can pay to pick him up and toss him onto an air mattress or a padded area, his lawsuit said. The lawsuit, which does not seek damages, contends the ban is unconstitutional." The trial is expected to be short.

Setting It Straight
The following correction is appended to an article from the Yale Daily News entitled "Gay Studies, Professors Face Rocky Road at Yale":

This article incorrectly stated that former Yale professor Jonathan Weinberg was fired from the University, that he accused Yale of discrimination, and that he claimed he was fired for being gay. He was not fired from Yale; he was not given tenure. He has never accused Yale of discrimination in any legal capacity, and he did not say that he was fired for being gay.

Also, the article incorrectly stated that most of Weinberg's friends at Fieldston School were gay. He said none of them were gay.

Whew, we're glad they cleared that up!

(Elizabeth Crowley helps compile Best of the Web Today, and we get by with a little help from our friends. Thanks to Damian Bennett, C.E. Dobkin, Raghu Desikan, Christian Peck, Jim Orheim, Scott Goebel, Christopher Hartwell, Michael Dowding, George Lenz, Andrew Penchuk, Duncan Fitzgerald and Gregory Taylor. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)

Today on OpinionJournal:

• James Webb: The Powell Doctrine won't beat terrorism (link requires registration).
• Daniel Henninger: After Sept. 11, civil-libertarian sanctimony is too much to take.
• Peggy Noonan takes her first flight since . . . well, you know.

And on the Taste page:

• Review & Outlook: Feds take aim at BB guns.
• Max Boot: Unlike the other services, the Marines kept their fighting spirit.
• Joe Loconte: Hard lessons for Good Samaritans in Afghanistan.
• Brian Carney: Tolkien runs rings around Harry Potter.
• Tony & Tacky: Walking for capitalism; the first Jewish American Playmate.