From the WSJ Opinion Archives
Three
Cheers for 'Unilateralism'
The past week's silly controversy over the treatment of terrorist prisoners
at Guantanamo Bay reminds us of two things: First, many foreign elites (and
some American ones too, notably the leaders of "human rights" organizations)
have a reflexive hostility to America. Now that the shock of Sept. 11 has worn
off somewhat, they've reverted to form. Second, it doesn't really matter, as
long as America has an administration confident enough to ignore the bleats
of the elites.
The New York Times' William Safire (link requires registration) is dead on in today's column. He cites China's muted response to the allegations that America bugged President Jiang Zemin's plane, Russia's lack of opposition to America's withdrawal from the ABM Treaty and the possible expansion of NATO to the Baltics, and the quietude of the "Arab street" as America wages war on Islamic terrorists:
A year ago, "unilateral" described the Bushites and "multilateral" the old Clintonites. But we have shown by our willingness to go it alone that we need not go it alone. Angered and injured, we turned resolute, and lo! anticipated opposition melted away.
The carping of foreign elites looks sillier by the day. Canada's National Post reports from Ottawa that "a growing number of Liberal backbenchers are tired of standing 'shoulder to shoulder' with the United States and are demanding that Canada reassert its independence." One parliamentarian, Bonnie Brown, whines: "I'm very concerned about our participation in this so-called war. . . . I sort of feel like I've had enough. We've been bending over backwards and I'm not seeing any payoff."
The litany of Canadian complaints goes beyond the war. "Whether they're stealing our doctors or, as great free traders, taxing softwood lumber and banning our potatoes, there's a sort of bullying that goes on that is really unpleasant," grouses Carolyn Bennett, chairman of the Liberal women's caucus. One John Godfrey puffs himself up and likens the struggle over such minor matters to World War IV: "George Bush has declared that the war on terrorism is the cause of his generation. National sovereignty will be the cause of ours [in Canada]."
This griping is so risible because these Canadians probably know, and Canadians in positions of greater responsibility undoubtedly know, that the war is far more important than any trivial complaints about potatoes or doctors, and that the rest of the civilized world is utterly dependent on America's leadership to defeat the Islamic terrorist enemy. We're all in this together.
That includes countries that aren't fully civilized yet, like China. Bloomberg News reports that the new Afghan foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, said in Beijing that "there is 'no doubt' Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan trained and equipped separatist groups from China's northwestern Xinjiang province."
Al Qaeda has also, of course, been active in the Russian province of Chechnya and in various Arab, East Asian, African and European countries. In short, America's enemy is also a threat to the people and the government of nearly every country in the world that is of any consequence, including Canada. Safire's exactly right: If America leads, the world will follow.
So
All of a Sudden They're Muslims?
National Review Online's Jonah Goldberg has the best rejoinder we've seen to
the hypocritical "human rights" nags:
Activists and Muslim spokesmen denounce the forced shaving of these murderers, in the words of former attorney general Ramsey Clark, as "a gross violation" of their "sensitivity and their religious beliefs." Recall, that these guys are the same people who arrested practicing (American) Christians and shot, stoned, crushed, folded, spindled, and mutilated all sorts of people for deviating from even the smallest religious orthodoxy.
Moreover, all of these guys, we were told, aren't really Muslims. Time and again, enough Muslim clerics here and abroad to form a crowd scene in Lawrence of Arabia, explained to us that "Islam means peace." They said these jerks from al Qaeda are nothing more than criminals and terrorists flagrantly violating Muslim law. So why, you might ask, are we treating their "religious beliefs" as so sacred?
Dr. Sayed Aziz Pasha, of the Union of Muslim Organizations, wrote recently in a British paper that shaving their beards "is not the action of a civilized country." I am deeply curious about what Pasha has to say about Muslim countries which remove beards of Christians the old-fashioned way--by taking off the whole head.
The Christian Science Monitor reports that nary a peep has been heard about the 4,800 or so inmates being held in Afghan prisons, where conditions really do sound bad: "A guard unlocks a door, revealing some of his keep: shivering Pakistani men, piled eight or nine to a space fit for two or three, in a bare cement cell that's as cold as a meat locker. The cell has no washroom or latrine, and the stench of sour milk, unwashed clothes, and fear hang heavily in the air."
Here's a datum that suggests the anti-American complaining is falling on deaf ears. London's Mirror tabloid, which has been especially hysterical in denouncing the goings-on at Gitmo, carries this note at the very bottom of an otherwise typically deranged report:
Yesterday we asked if you condemn the US treatment of al-Qaeda prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. As more criticism was heaped on Camp X-Ray from around the world, 91% of voters supported America.
Rich Galen's Mullings.com has a nice suggestion, though:
Here's a great plan: In order to guarantee that the thugs in Cuba and Alexandria [Va.] are treated properly they should all be turned over to civilian authorities. The New York City Fire Department.
Fat
Lady Holds Off on Singing
The war in Afghanistan isn't over yet. As many as 15 al Qaeda men are dead in
a gunfight north of Kandahar. One U.S. soldier was hurt, but officials say his
wounds aren't life-threatening. And the Times
of London reports that "British peacekeepers in Afghanistan still face
being fired upon by Taleban and al-Qaeda forces using missiles and chemical
weapons, according to United Nations experts."
The
Iranian Threat
The mad mullahs who run Iran have "sent senior military officers into three
southern provinces of Afghanistan in an attempt to undermine the fragile process
of this war-torn nation's reunification," the Los Angeles Times quotes
a Kandahar provincial official as saying:
Mohammed Yusef Pushtoon, a close aide to Kandahar Gov. Gul Agha Shirzai, said senior Iranian military officers have been operating in Farah, Nimruz and Helmand provinces for the last two weeks, trying to lure local warlords away from commitments to back the new central government in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
London's Daily Telegraph reports that Iran is arming Ismail Khan, an Afghan warlord from the Herat region. Another Telegraph report notes that "Tehran's sheltering of a notorious terrorist is proving a major obstacle to improving relations between the United States and Iran":
Imad Fayez Mugniyah, 40, a Lebanese who once belonged to Yasser Arafat's personal security detail, is regarded as the second most wanted man in the world. After Osama bin Laden, he is the figure most likely to be blamed for any outrage.
The former head of security for Hizbollah, Mugniyah is known to have been involved in hijackings, kidnappings and suicide bombing missions.
There are also signs of rapprochement between Iran and archenemy Iraq. Reuters reports Iran plans to start commercial flights to Iraq and also "plans to use Iraqi airspace for direct flights to Syria."
The
Sounds of Silence
Some American officials think Osama bin Laden is playing possum, the Washington
Times reports. "U.S. intelligence has noticed a lack of communication in
recent weeks by those close to Osama bin Laden, causing some analysts to believe
he may be executing a ruse to convince Washington he is dead, officials say."
'I
Understand'
Marin mujahid John Walker Lindh, sporting a shave and a crewcut, made
his first court appearance this morning in Alexandria, Va. "Yes I do, thank
you," he said when asked if he understood the charges against him. His
parents held a press conference outside the courtroom at which dad Frank Lindh
declared implausibly that "John loves America."
The feisty New York Post headlines a story on Walker's homecoming RECOGNIZE HIM? HE'S THE RAT. Careful, Posties. He's only an alleged rat.
Killing
Jews Coming and Going
Tuesday's terrorist attack in Jerusalem has claimed the life of Sarah Hamburger,
a 79-year-old great-grandmother. The Jerusalem Post notes that Hamburger was
a refugee from Hebron, in what is now called the West Bank, where Arabs massacred
Jews in 1929. Her family escaped to Jerusalem. Of course, Palestinian Arab terrorists
frequently attack Jewish civilians who live in West Bank settlements, claiming
that Jews have no right to live in what used to be Arab territory. If you're
Jewish, it seems, the Arabs are happy to kill you no matter which way you're
going.
Powell
Still Flummoxed
In a phone call yesterday to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Yasser Arafat, Colin
Powell renewed his demand that Arafat explain that shipment of arms from Iran
that Israel seized on Jan. 3. The efforts
of OpinionJournal readers are still, it seems, for naught. The Washington
Times notes, however, that Mr. Powell--who did not make a similar call to
ask Israel's leaders for restraint--rejected Mr. Arafat's request to send special
envoy Anthony Zinni back to the region.
The Associated Press reports that Salam al-Marayati of the Muslim Public Affairs Council of Los Angeles is to speak Monday at a State Department forum. In a radio interview shortly after Sept. 11, al-Marayati had this to say: "If we're going to look at suspects, we should look to the groups that benefit the most from these kinds of incidents. I think we should put the state of Israel on the suspect list because I think this diverts attention from what's happening in the Palestinian territories." He says he later apologized to local Jewish leaders.
Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Post reports that Daniel Kurtzer, America's ambassador to Israel, gave a talk to Israeli students in which he urged them "to pressure the government toward more 'reconciliation' and 'reasonable compromise.' " How you're supposed to reach "reasonable compromise" with suicide bombers isn't clear. Kurtzer cited 1960s student protests as a model: "My generation used to take over offices of college deans. I don't recommend that. . . . But it was a kind of political action that let the power structure know we wanted a change, that we wanted to see a different way of conducting the affairs of the university, of the state, that we wanted to see political change--and it worked, over time." Well, America pulled out of Vietnam. Is Kurtzer suggesting that Israel should pull out of the Middle East?
Back
to Somalia
Mark Bowden, whose book "Black Hawk Down," chronicling the 1993 Somlia
debacle, is now a wildly successful motion picture, seems optimistic about the
prospects for another U.S. action in that desolate African land. He writes in
London's Guardian:
The rapid success in Afghanistan demonstrated power and shrewdness. Victory over the Taliban and al-Qaida was accomplished by an amazing display of pinpoint air power and the ability of US and British special forces to organise, foment and steer a popular Afghan uprising. The lessons of the Somalia intervention and the war in Afghanistan are clear. Success depends on enlisting the active support of the local population, and on using the full complement of weapons in the US arsenal.
If the blueprint is followed, I would not want to be a Bin Ladenite hiding in Somalia.
The
Saudis Seethe
"Saudis voiced outrage on Wednesday at a U.S. decision to let American
servicewomen doff the flowing black robes they previously had to wear outside
U.S. military bases in the conservative Muslim kingdom," Reuters reports.
A Saudi newspaper editor tells the wire service: "If some American women
want to deliberately challenge our local customs, then you'll see a clash, especially
with the mutawaeen." They're "stick-wielding religious police
who roam Saudi streets to enforce Islamic codes."
PC
on the Big Screen
Paramount plans a summer release of "The Sum of All Fears," an action
movie about terrorists that features a nuclear blast. Reuters reports that "Paramount
had made just one concession to political correctness: the terrorists are neo-Nazis,
not Arabs."
Some Arabs, though, sound an awful lot like neo-Nazis. Case in point: an essay in the Arab News by Muhammad ibn Saeed Al-Ahmad. Calling to mind the disingenuous claims of Holocaust deniers (albeit on a smaller scale), he writes that "it has not been conclusively proven that Saudis were among the elements who committed those heinous acts" on Sept. 11. Then he hints at a Jewish media conspiracy:
[The New York Times' Douglas] Jehl says that Saudi officials confirm that the Kingdom lost no Saudis in the Sept. 11 attacks except those who were among the hijackers. Who are these Saudi officials who made such a statement? Or is he acting according to his usual practice--and the practice of many journalists and opinion poll takers in your country who deceive you by saying that an unnamed source said a certain thing? Or that opinion polls indicate that such and such a percentage support or do not support a stand that a certain group does or does not endorse. This opinion then becomes that of the majority though it is not representative of anything except a certain group of New York residents who support or do not support certain political moves related to the Palestinian question.
Stupidity Watch
Matthew
Engel of the London Guardian reports on an Appleton, Wis., museum exhibition
devoted to Joseph McCarthy. The headline reads: "Echo of Present Paranoia
in McCarthy Museum." But if you read to the bottom of the piece, you find
that Engel admits the opposite is true:
While visitors muse on the connection between the 1950s and the present crisis, one thing remains different: no new Joe McCarthy is rampaging through US politics.
"Not right now, there isn't," [curator Kim] Louagie says, portentously.
Village
Idiot Economics
Cynthia Cotts, the Village Voice's media critic, explains the Enron scandal
to her readers: "The story line is simple: The feds looked the other way
while Enron reaped unconscionable profits." Yeah, Cynthia, companies that
reap "unconscionable profits" go bankrupt all the time.
Of course, the real problem was exactly the opposite: Enron cooked the books to hide the fact that it didn't reap the profits it was claiming.
Zero-Tolerance
Watch
You'd expect Texans to have more common sense than this, but an assistant principal
at Anderson Elementary School may be hauled up on criminal charges for shooting
a possibly rabid skunk on campus. The Bryan/College Station Eagle reports a
Grimes County grand jury is reviewing the incident, in which Kimmie DeVillier
shot the skunk, which "had trapped a group of elementary students in the
school's gymnasium." The paper notes that "unlawfully carrying a weapon
at a prohibited place--such as a school campus--is a third-degree felony punishable
by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine." In Texas?
Homelessness Rediscovery Watch
"If George W. Bush becomes president, the armies of the homeless, hundreds of thousands strong, will once again be used to illustrate the opposition's arguments about welfare, the economy, and taxation."--Mark Helprin, Oct. 31, 2000
"Homelessness Here Has Gone Up 69 Pct., Says Advocacy Group"--headline, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jan. 23, 2002
"More people used publicly funded services for the homeless in the District [of Columbia] last year than in any year since 1997, according to a report released yesterday that lends support to advocates, service providers and homeless people who say the need for services is growing."--Washington Post, Jan. 24, 2002
Bum
Steer
In Oregon, it seems, the "homeless" have cars. The Oregon Driver and
Motor Vehicle Services agency includes the following in its instruction for
identifying driver's license applicants (second bulleted item from bottom of
page:
An applicant who is homeless may use a descriptive address of the location where he/she actually resides, e.g., "under the west end of the Burnside Bridge". The applicant must present a written statement from a social service agency verifying the descriptive address. The applicant must also provide a mailing address.
These poor souls actually face a double burden: Not only are they homeless, they're garageless too!
(Thanks to Ron Graham, C.E. Dobkin, Nate Wagner, Raghu Desikan, Steve Shirley, Robert Sinnema, S.E. Brenner, Paul Music, Damian Bennett, Christian Peck, Michael Segal, Nathan Wirtschafter, Ira Slomowitz, Jerry Skurnik, Richard Yeates, Doug Levene, Andrew Haberern, Anthony Brunsvold, Daniel Lane, Mike Duke, Craig Renner and David Patrick. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
- Andrew Sullivan: Tina Brown was the Bill Clinton of journalism (link requires registration).
- Kim Strassel: The latest Clinton scandal has fur flying in Washington.
- John Fund explains What Enron has in common with Watergate.
- Joseph Duggan: Is the pope Italian? And why should the next one be?
