Steyn on the CNN Scandal

Apr 22, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses

[I]t's not entirely clear Eason Jordan's get-along policy with Saddam didn't kill as many people as it protected. For example, the butcher's psycho boy Udai told Jordan that he intended to murder Saddam's two sons-in-law, who'd defected. Jordan felt he couldn't tip off the guys because it would have jeopardized the life of CNN's translator, who was also present at the meeting. So the sons-in-law returned to Baghdad and were promptly killed. ''I felt awful having these stories bottled up inside me,'' whimpers Jordan. But it's not really a ''story,'' is it? It's some other fellow's life. Did Jordan tell his bosses? Was it a corporate Time-Warner decision to go ahead and let these guys get whacked...?

Throughout this period, instead of acknowledging the open secret that he couldn't report fairly from Baghdad, Jordan huffily insisted that he could. If news is the issue, CNN didn't need to be in Iraq. The truth of what was going on was easily ascertained from talking to Iraqis in Amman, Kuwait and London. But that doesn't work for CNN. They sell themselves as a global brand and it's more important to them to be seen to have a Baghdad bureau than to have any real news emerging from that bureau. What mattered to CNN was not the two-minute report of rewritten Saddamite press releases but the sign off: ''Jane Arraf, CNN, Baghdad.'' As Jordan acknowledged, this squalid tradeoff cost real lives. Once the terms of doing business with Saddam were clear, they should have gotten out. But CNN willingly conceded the right to report any news for what it saw as the far more valuable right to be allowed to continue to appear as if it were reporting the news.

CNN's slogan is ''The Most Trusted Name In News,'' which rings a little hollow now. I like the counter-slogans doing the rounds on talk-radio: ''No Blood For News.'' [Mark Steyn, Chicago Sun-Times, 4/20/03]

Progress on Iraqi WMD

Apr 22, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses

A scientist who claims to have worked in Iraq's chemical weapons program for more than a decade... led Americans to a supply of material that proved to be the building blocks of illegal weapons, which he claimed to have buried as evidence of Iraq's illicit weapons programs. The scientist also told American weapons experts that Iraq had secretly sent unconventional weapons and technology to Syria, starting in the mid-1990's, and that more recently Iraq was cooperating with Al Qaeda, the military officials said.

The Americans said the scientist told them that President Saddam Hussein's government had destroyed some stockpiles of deadly agents as early as the mid-1990's, transferred others to Syria, and had recently focused its efforts instead on research and development projects that are virtually impervious to detection by international inspectors, and even American forces on the ground combing through Iraq's giant weapons plants....Military officials said the scientist told them that four days before President Bush gave Mr. Hussein 48 hours to leave Iraq or face war, Iraqi officials set fire to a warehouse where biological weapons research and development was conducted.

The officials quoted him as saying he had watched several months before the outbreak of the war as Iraqis buried chemical precursors and other sensitive material to conceal and preserve them for future use. The officials said the scientist showed them documents, samples, and other evidence of the program that he claimed to have stolen to prove that the program existed. [New York Times, 4/21/03]

Attila and the Witch Doctor–Literally

Apr 21, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses

After Mr. Aristide, at the time a Catholic priest of the Order of the Salesians, got dressed for the momentous meeting with Mr. Clinton, "Sister Anne"--that's Anne Auguste, his personal voodoo priestess--went into a trance. She took both hands of the president as she invoked her gods for "the boy," before she dispatched him to the White House. After she blew a mist of an alcohol-laced solution in his face, she said: "Go now, my boy, you are ready." A former Aristide supporter who was in attendance at the ceremony that day said, "Most of those present believed that the voodoo tricks of Sister Anne would have an effect on determining President Clinton's attitude toward their chief. So far they think they were right." ... [Raymond Joseph, New York Sun, 4/18/03]

Casualties of War

Apr 21, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses

Crushing Castro With Free Speech

Apr 21, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses

HBO has ordered the removal of "Comandante" from the [Tribeca film] festival, where it was supposed to make its New York premiere. The cable network pulled the plug after it cancelled its plan to air the movie on May 5. The fear was that the documentary was too soft on the Cuban dictator, especially in light of Mr. Castro's recent crackdown on dissidents...."In light of all that has happened in Cuba, unless Oliver can go back and interview Fidel about the recent events, the film is obviously incomplete," said Paul Marotta, a spokesman for HBO...The film reportedly doesn't delve into a referendum effort in Cuba that has collected thousands of signatures in support of democratic reforms. Mr. Castro recently jailed about 20 people associated with the project. 

Mr. Stone... has called Mr. Castro "magnetic and charismatic." At the Sundance Film Festival, the 56-year-old director was quoted as saying, "I thought [Mr. Castro] was warm and bright. He's a very driven man, a very moral man." [New York Sun, 4/18/03]

UN Charade: Sanctions on Iraq to Continue?

Apr 20, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses

Russia, France and other key Security Council members set the stage today for a new battle over Iraq, signaling that the United States must give the United Nations a broader role in reconstruction efforts before sanctions can be lifted...."This decision cannot be automatic," [Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov] said. "For the Security Council to take this decision we need to be certain whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction or not." Russia and other council members maintain that it must be U.N. inspectors, not the U.S. military, who verify whether the country has been disarmed....The EU echoed that demand in a statement issued from the summit: "The U.N. must play a central role, including the process leading toward self-government for the Iraqi people, utilizing its unique capacity and experience in post-conflict nation-building." [Washington Post, 4/17/03]

“Regional Autonomy”–Another Gimmick

Apr 19, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses

Dana Rohrabacher, a maverick California Republican, criticized U.S. policy of favoring strong central government in a new Afghan constitution being drawn up, calling it the product of "too many Ivy League thinkers..."There is no doubt that if you are going to have any sort of social harmony in a country like Afghanistan, people have got to be able to elect their local leaders. You can't expect everybody to take their orders from Kabul when you have such ethnic diversity. "Giving people local autonomy is a way of making them happy and content with being part of a central system." [Reuters, 4/18/03]

Europansies worry that stun guns might…well, stun

Apr 18, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses

Although panty-waisted British officials have already banned "export" of Tasers (which is a bit silly, since they are made in the United States, not the U.K.), officers in London, Northamptonshire, North Wales, the Thames Valley, and Lincolnshire will carry the devices for a one-year trial period.  The officers will be instructed to shout, "Taser, Taser, Taser!" before firing, despite possible concern that shouting may do more harm than the Taser itself by hurting someone's feelings.

It has not yet been proven that building a country full of hypersensitive sheep is an effective defense against terrorist aggression.

Bureaucracy in Action

Apr 18, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses

Col Said, 42, commanded 150 soldiers in an engineer unit attached to the Hammurabi division, charged with defending the north-western approaches. Yet even before the fighting began, Col Said said, most Republican Guard soldiers viewed Saddam with hatred and contempt. "We would say, 'Our leader is mad, mad, mad. And he wants to cut all our throats'. "We knew we would never fight. I thought the war would never start because it was madness." Col Said described the cynicism of sycophantic Republican Guard generals who assured Saddam of victory during televised meetings. "They told him we would fight any power in the world. When we heard this, we couldn't believe it. But then the generals told us, 'No, no - don't worry. Just keep quiet. Stay in your positions. It won't happen'." [Daily Telegraph, 4/17/03]

Free Lecture: America vs. Americans

Apr 18, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses

Dr. Peikoff is the legal and intellectual heir of novelist/philosopher Ayn Rand, and founder of the Ayn Rand Institute. He is the author of Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (1991); The Ominous Parallels (1982); and numerous Ayn Rand anthologies. This event is free to the public. Location: Hyatt Regency Irvine, 17900 Jamboree Road (at Jamboree and the 405 Freeway), Irvine, California. Time and Dates: Monday, April 21, 2003, Doors open at 6:30 PM; Presentation: 7:30 to 8:30 PM, Q&A: 8:30 to 9:30 PM; Reception follows until 10:00 PM. For more information, please call 949-222-6550, or email events@aynrand.org.

Activism: NY Times Editorial “North Korea Blinks” is Ridiculous

Apr 18, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses

The breakthrough came when North Korea stopped insisting on one-on-one talks with Washington. The Bush administration wanted a broader regional meeting. The invasion of Iraq may have given North Korea second thoughts, but pressure from China was probably more significant.

What?! I had to write a letter to them:

Dear Editors:

We just witnessed the overwhelming and swift destruction of an "Axis of Evil" regime, then North Korea suddenly is willing to have discussions about its nuclear program--on American terms. Yet you arbitrarily, without any evidence, assert that "pressure from China was probably more significant" in forcing North Korea to reconsider its bellicosity than the North Korean regime's fear that it too might be toppled.

This assertion is incredible. It contradicts the most obvious reason for this change of heart, and it flat-out contradicts what your own reporter, James Brooke, has been writing: that Kim Jong Il's regime is terrified that they are next on America's list. It seems to me that you have chosen to discard the obviously true rather than to admit that Bush's war against Iraq is actually having positive effects elsewhere.

I encourage others to email them at: letters@nytimes.com.

More on the CNN Scandal

Apr 18, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses

[T]imes have changed, and now, he offers advice on reaching a lasting peace in the Middle East. He spends his days rushing from meeting to meeting, lunching with officials of the new Palestinian National Authority, networking, listening and making suggestions....He now says the time for armed struggle has ended, but not the struggle itself. "The purpose of armed struggle is not simply to kill ... its purpose is to reach a political goal," Abbas said...."The media didn't tell the world that Abu Abbas saved the lives of six hundred passengers, only that a disabled man was killed," he said. [CNN, 5/10/96]

Hamas: Nothing but Thugs

Apr 18, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses

"It (arrest of Abu Abbas) indicates that America is sinking its sharp teeth into Iraq and into Palestine," [Hamas founder] Sheikh Ahmed Yassin said. "It is a crusader's war against both. But it will be defeated. Our people are stronger than Israel and America," the wheelchair-bound Yassin said as 2,000 Palestinians marched to mark Palestinian Prisoner Day....

"Let them arrest the whole Palestinian people. Resistance will never stop. We will continue Jihad (holy struggle) and resistance," Yassin said. "Whether we go to prison or whether they kill leaders, resistance will never stop before the liberation," he added. [Reuters, 4/17/03]

Some “Distraction” from Fighting Terrorism

Apr 18, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses

U.S. forces came upon a recently abandoned terrorist training camp on the outskirts of Baghdad where recruits were apparently taught how to make bombs and what to do if they got captured, the Marines said Wednesday. The extensive camp consisted of about 20 permanent buildings on 25 acres south of the city and was operated by the Iraqi government and the Palestine Liberation Front, said Marine spokesman Cpl. John Hoellwarth. [Associated Press, 4/17/03]

Secret dossiers detailing [Ugandan guerilla group Allied Democratic Forces'] discussions with the Iraqi Intelligence Service were found in the spies' Baghdad headquarters, among the detritus of shredding.....In a letter to the head of the Iraqi spy agency, a senior ADF operative outlined his group's efforts to set up an "international mujahideen team". Its mission, he said, "will be to smuggle arms on a global scale to holy warriors fighting against US, British and Israeli influences in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Far East"....Nassir offered to "vet, recruit and send youth to train for the jihad" at a centre in Baghdad, which he described as a "headquarters for international holy warrior network". It was not clear whether the centre was established....In December 2001 the movement was placed on the US list of terrorist organisations. Throughout its campaign the ADF has been provided with weapons and funding by the Islamist government in Sudan, one of more than half a dozen states Washington accuses of sponsoring terrorism. The key figure behind the ADF is widely acknowledged to be a fundamentalist Islamic cleric, Sheikh Jamil Makulu. According to the Ugandan government and western intelligence sources, Sheikh Makulu became friendly with Osama bin Laden in the early to mid-Nineties, when the al-Qa'eda chief was living in Khartoum. [Daily Telegraph, 4/16/03]

Environmentalism is an anti-human ideology

Apr 17, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses

Consider the environmentalist lawsuits threatening to cut the water supply from New Mexico's urban and rural populations to make it available to the Rio Grande silvery minnow. The environmentalists' attempt to "protect" the silvery minnow at the expense of city dwellers and farmers demonstrates they place less value on human life than on fish life. In fact, the environmentalists' record of "protecting" crocodiles, owls, mice and even insects at the expense of humans shows that they place less value on human life than on *any other* form of life. It even suggests that they place *no value* on human life.

"But wait," you may say, "not all environmentalists are like that. I am an environmentalist and I value human life." To which I reply: If you really value human life, you should reconsider your support of an ideology that, if followed to its logical consequences, will eliminate humans from the face of the earth.

“Vicarious Liability” Makes for Outrageous Car Rental Fees

Apr 17, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses

[A] Manhattan resident can, indeed, get the $53.99 rate [to rent a Dodge Stratus]. But a Brooklyn resident who shows up to rent the same car from the same location gets hit with a hefty surcharge of $76 a day, making the rental rate $129.99--more than twice the Manhattan price. Bronx residents are surcharged $66, and Queens residents, $10....The companies say the policies are needed to pay for huge losses caused by multi-million-dollar verdicts handed out by juries in Brooklyn and the Bronx for automobile accidents involving a rental car. Under New York state's vicarious liability law, rental companies are legally responsible for accidents caused by renters. "For many, many years, our liability costs in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx ran orders of magnitude higher than in New York or in the rest of the country," said Richard Broome, a Hertz vice president contacted by The New York Sun. "We got a lot of suits and large jury verdicts out of those three boroughs." ... The state's trial lawyers, who boast one of the state's most powerful and well-funded lobbying operations, count vicarious liability as a sacred cow to be defended at all costs. "If the state were to get rid of the vicarious liability law,which doesn't exist in more than 40 other states, our rating program wouldn't need to exist at all," Mr. Broome said. [New York Sun, 4/14/03]

CNN: Passionately Determined to Cut Its Own Throat

Apr 17, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses

Forget Serbia, forget Iraq. "The government we have the toughest time with is the U.S. government," said Eason Jordan, CNN's president for global newsgathering, at the network's annual World Report Conference May 4. Because of trade embargoes, the U.S. government is involved in where CNN opens its bureaus, Jordan said. CNN has been trying for a year to open a permanent bureau in Baghdad, Iraq, and now has permission from the Iraqis, he said. "I've [recently] been thrown out of the White House pleading this case." [Atlanta Business Chronicle, 5/7/99]

The Bush administration took over Iraqi state television yesterday...U.S. officials said that within days, they hope to open a second television channel in Iraq featuring subtitled versions of the three major networks' evening newscasts, as well as PBS's "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" and Fox News Channel's hour-long politics show, "Special Report With Brit Hume."...CNN declined to have its newscasts included. "As an independent, global news organization, we did not think it was appropriate to participate in a U.S. government transmission," spokeswoman Christa Robinson said. [Washington Post, 4/11/03]

‘Axis of Evil’ Feels the Heat

Apr 17, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses