Why Loot? The Man Made Disaster in New Orleans
Penetrating analysis by Robert W. Tracinski (with some help from his wife Sherri) at TIA:The man-made disaster is not an inadequate or incompetent response by federal relief agencies, and it was not directly caused by Hurricane Katrina. This is where just about every newspaper and television channel has gotten the story wrong. The man-made disaster we are now witnessing in New Orleans did not happen over the past four days. It happened over the past four decades. Hurricane Katrina merely exposed it to public view. [...] What explains bands of thugs using a natural disaster as an excuse for an orgy of looting, armed robbery, and rape? What causes unruly mobs to storm the very buses that have arrived to evacuate them, causing the drivers to drive away, frightened for their lives? What causes people to attack the doctors trying to treat patients at the Super Dome? [...] What Hurricane Katrina exposed was the psychological consequences of the welfare state. What we consider "normal" behavior in an emergency is behavior that is normal for people who have values and take the responsibility to pursue and protect them. People with values respond to a disaster by fighting against it and doing whatever it takes to overcome the difficulties they face. They don't sit around and complain that the government hasn't taken care of them. They don't use the chaos of a disaster as an opportunity to prey on their fellow men. But what about criminals and welfare parasites? Do they worry about saving their houses and property? They don't, because they don't own anything. Do they worry about what is going to happen to their businesses or how they are going to make a living? They never worried about those things before. Do they worry about crime and looting? But living off of stolen wealth is a way of life for them. ["An Unnatural Disaster: A Hurricane Exposes the Man-Made Disaster of the Welfare State", TIA, Sept. 1 2005]As Tracinski explains, one thing people with values do require is a government that protects their rights. Alas, "...in a city corrupted by the welfare state, the job of city officials is to ensure the flow of handouts to welfare recipients and patronage to political supporters--not to ensure a lawful, orderly evacuation in case of emergency." Read the full article.
Neoconservatives Vs. America: A Critique of U.S. Foreign Policy Since 9/11
Amid the self-doubt and anti-Americanism paralyzing the nation after 9/11, neoconservative intellectuals appeared self-confident and pressed for military action. Since then they have become architects of United States foreign policy. They support the Bush administration's campaign to plant "freedom" in the Middle East. To secure our "national interest," they argue, America must assert its unrivaled military power throughout the world. Despite their tough-sounding policies, however, neoconservatives in fact reject the moral need to pursue only America's self-interest, and instead urge us to sacrifice ourselves in order to bring "democracy" to the world. While U.S. troops are dying in the campaign to "liberate" Iraq, ominous threats to our security are left to fester: Iran, the arch-sponsor of Islamic terrorism, is chasing nuclear weapons with undiminished vigor. And the grisly terrorist bombings in London—like those in Madrid last year—portend further suicide attacks on United States soil. Who are the neoconservatives, and where are they leading us? In this talk Dr. Brook critiques neoconservative foreign policy, exposes the real meaning of their vaunted patriotism, and argues that their policies will lead to failure in America's war against Islamist totalitarians. On Monday, September 12, the Ayn Rand Institute Lecture Series 2005 Presents: Neoconservatives Vs. America: A Critique of U.S. Foreign Policy Since 9/11 By Yaron Brook. Event is free and open to the public. Details: Monday, September 12, 2005. Hyatt Regency Irvine 17900 Jamboree Road (at the 405 Freeway) Irvine, California. $6 for self-parking, $10 for valet. Bookstore opens: 6:30 PM Presentation: 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM Q & A: 8:30 PM to 9:30 PMWill New Orleans Be Reborn? The Lessons from The 1900 Storm
From TIA Daily:The key question every time there is a natural disaster is not, "How did this happen?" Nature is dangerous, and it is always causing a disaster for someone, somewhere. Nor is the question, "Who is to blame?" There is always something more that could have been done to protect this or that place--at an expenditure of millions or billions, against a risk that could not be predicted. The only really important question after a disaster is: "How are we going to recover?" [...] The 1900 Storm is still the deadliest natural disaster in US history, with estimates of lives lost ranging between 8,000 to 12,000. It utterly destroyed and almost entirely flooded the island city of Galveston, Texas, and killed 6,000 of its inhabitants. This is the story of the rebuilding of Galveston after the storm."For while the story that began Sept. 8, 1900, is one about the fate of people at the hands of nature, it's also one about people altering their own fates by changing the face of nature.... Despite the unimaginable devastation and what must have been a hard realization that it could happen again, the city immediately began pulling itself out of the mud....Residents of Galveston quickly decided that they would rebuild, that the city would survive, and almost as soon, leaders began deciding how it would do so." "The two civil engineering projects leaders decided to pursue--building a seawall and raising the island's elevation--stand today and are almost as great in their scope and effect as the storm itself.... The feat of raising an entire city began with three engineers hired by the city in 1901 to design a means of keeping the gulf in its place.... Along with building a seawall, Alfred Noble, Henry M. Robert and HC Ripley recommended the city be raised 17 feet at the seawall and sloped downward at a pitch of one foot for every 1,500 feet to the bay.... The first task required to translate their vision into a working system was a means of getting more than 16 million cubic yards of sand--enough to fill more than a million dump trucks--to the island. [...] McComb sums it up about as well as it can be: "Human technology made it possible - for the city of Galveston to remain on such unstable land. The city did not flourish. Houston - left the island city far behind. Galveston simply survived. "The public defenses against nature came at a high cost, but they succeeded for the most part. Its struggle for survival against nature through the application of technology represents the strongest tradition of Western civilization. Galveston's response to the great storm was its finest hour." [http://www.1900storm.com/rebuilding/]
Religion in Our Schools…Courtesy of the Left?
President Bush, along with prominent Republican Senators, advocate the teaching of what they call "intelligent design" in public schools. "Intelligent design," in case you don't already know, is another term for creationism, the idea that a supernatural being created the world in 7 days. The rationale for teaching what amounts to fundamentalist religion in taxpayer-funded public schools? According to Bush's friend, Senator Bill Frist, the point is to make our society more "pluralistic" and diverse. Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean shot back that the Republican Party is anti-science. Dean, of course, is correct. But by what means are Republicans undermining the value of science? By the same means that Democrats do with their own agenda of secular political correctness: diversity for the sake of diversity. I have predicted, for years now, that once the religious elements of the Republican Party took over--and clearly now they have--that the old rationalizations Democrats used for years to prop up their own anti-freedom policies would come back to haunt them. It's happening. In a nutshell, conservative religious Republicans are using the welfare state originally created by liberal Democrats to spread the very ideas and policies liberal Democrats hate the most. This is bad news for freedom right now.New Orleans Looters Should Be Shot
From Peggy Noonan:As for the tragic piggism that is taking place on the streets of New Orleans, it is not unbelievable but it is unforgivable, and I hope the looters are shot. A hurricane cannot rob a great city of its spirit, but a vicious citizenry can. [...] There seems to be some confusion in terms of terminology on TV. People with no food and water who are walking into supermarkets and taking food and water off the shelves are not criminal, they are sane. They are not looters, they are people who are attempting to survive; they are taking the basics of survival off shelves in stores where there isn't even anyone at the cash register. Looters are not looking to survive; they're looking to take advantage of the weakness of others. They are predators. They're taking not what they need but what they want. They are breaking into stores in New Orleans and elsewhere and stealing flat screen TVs and jewelry, guns and CD players. They are breaking into homes and taking what those who have fled trustingly left behind. In Biloxi, Miss., looters went from shop to shop. "People are just casually walking in and filling up garbage bags and walking off like they're Santa Claus," the owner of a Super 8 Motel told the London Times. On CNN, producer Kim Siegel reported in the middle of the afternoon from Canal Street in New Orleans that looters were taking "everything they can."Comments CM writer Don Watkins III:
This story from the AP describes the scene.With much of the city flooded by Hurricane Katrina, looters floated garbage cans filled with clothing and jewelry down the street in a dash to grab what they could. In some cases, looting on Tuesday took place in full view of police and National Guard troops. At a Walgreen's drug store in the French Quarter, people were running out with grocery baskets and coolers full of soft drinks, chips and diapers. When police finally showed up, a young boy stood in the door screaming, "86! 86!" - the radio code for police - and the crowd scattered. Denise Bollinger, a tourist from Philadelphia, stood outside and snapped pictures in amazement. "It's downtown Baghdad," the housewife said. "It's insane. I've wanted to come here for 10 years. I thought this was a sophisticated city. I guess not." Around the corner on Canal Street, the main thoroughfare in the central business district, people sloshed headlong through hip-deep water as looters ripped open the steel gates on the front of several clothing and jewelry stores. One man, who had about 10 pairs of jeans draped over his left arm, was asked if he was salvaging things from his store. "No," the man shouted, "that's EVERYBODY'S store." Looters filled industrial-sized garbage cans with clothing and jewelry and floated them down the street on bits of plywood and insulation as National Guard lumbered by. Mike Franklin stood on the trolley tracks and watched the spectacle unfold. "To be honest with you, people who are oppressed all their lives, man, it's an opportunity to get back at society," he said. A man walked down Canal Street with a pallet of food on his head. His wife, who refused to give her name, insisted they weren't stealing from the nearby Winn-Dixie supermarket. "It's about survival right now," she said as she held a plastic bag full of purloined items. "We got to feed our children. I've got eight grandchildren to feed."What's interesting about this story is what it reveals about man's need for a moral sanction. Men will not act without some sense that what they're doing is right. I don't mean that men automatically act according to what they believe is moral -- I mean that even when they act against their knowledge of the good, they have to evade that knowledge and find a rationalization to justify it. (Notice, here, the usefulness of altruism in providing such rationalizations.) Man's psychological need for a moral sanction is so strong that even criminals can't escape it. The most vicious criminals, rapists and child molesters included, will go to fantastic lengths to convince themselves that their actions are in some sense noble.[P]eople who are raiding stores for food and other necessities in order to survive during an emergency are doing nothing wrong. That's true, but even there, once life returns to normal, they have an obligation to repay the stores (or at least offer to). The same holds true for any emergency. It is proper to do what you have to do in order to survive, but if that involves violating someone's rights, then once you have weathered the emergency, you owe them the appropriate restitution.
Looters worsen hurricane crisis in New Orleans.
From Cox and Forkum:
From AFP: Looters worsen hurricane crisis in New Orleans.NEW ORLEANS, United States (AFP) - Rescuers raced to reach stranded survivors of Hurricane Katrina as authorities battled to stop looters taking control of the stricken city of New Orleans. With authorities estimating hundreds of dead from Monday's storm -- and not even bothering to recover bodies from the floods, news that floodwater levels had stabilised offered scant relief as the enormous scale of the crisis became apparent. ... US National Guard troops early Thursday girded for a mission to stem rising anarchy in looting-hit New Orleans, as authorities tried to stop the situation spiralling out of control. "The National Guard is quickly hoping to turn its mission to more law enforcement," Bob Mann, spokesman for Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, told reporters in a late night briefing.
Environmentalism: Hatred of man
From TIA Daily:While people are still dying in Louisiana and Mississippi, the New York Times comes out with an appalling editorial and this article, gloating about how the destructive power of Hurricane Katrina is nature's "revenge" against man for the hubris of believing that he can control nature. Keep these on file as a reminder of the real meaning of environmentalism: hatred of man."Since the 18th century..., people have been trying to dominate the region's landscape and the forces of its nature.... Although early travelers realized the irrationality of building a port on shifting mud in an area regularly ravaged by storms and disease, the opportunities to make money overrode all objections. When most transport was by water, people would of course settle along the Mississippi River, and of course they would build a port city near its mouth. In the 20th century, when oil and gas fields were developed in the gulf, of course people added petrochemical refineries and factories to the river mix, convenient to both drillers and shippers. To protect it all, they built an elaborate system of levees, dams, spillways and other installations.... In the last few decades, more and more people have realized what a terrible bargain the region made when it embraced--unwittingly, perhaps--environmental degradation in exchange for economic gains." ["After Centuries of 'Controlling' Land, Gulf Learns Who's the Boss," Cornelia Dean and Andrew C. Revkin, New York Times, August 30]
The Flat Tax Takes over the World
From TIA Daily:While the "flat tax" has been pretty much dead for the past decade in the US, it has been adopted in one country after another overseas, a process outlined in the article linked to below. While the flat tax is no cure-all--it is often justified as a way of increasing tax revenues--it represents a rejection of the egalitarian premise behind "progressive" tax rates."The World Is Flat," John Fund, Opinion Journal, August 29 "Next month's report of the White House tax reform commission will likely stop short of advocating a complete scrapping of the tax code. But look for it to have warm words for how well the flat tax is promoting economic growth in the more than dozen places--ranging from Ukraine to Hong Kong--that have adopted variations of it.... It's increasingly popular overseas, with Romania and the republic of Georgia adopting it last January.... Even Germany, normally a center of intellectual stagnation when it comes to tax policy, has gotten the bug.... Flat-tax pioneer Estonia is even reducing its rate by two percentage points a year until it drops to 20% in 2007.... Alvin Rabushka, a senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, believes it's only a matter of time before an emerging economic superpower like China or India goes the flat-tax route. His book on the subject has just been published in Chinese, with a preface by Lou Jiwei, the vice minister of finance." (See also today's Daily Telegraph at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/08/29/do2902.xml.)
Author of Kelo Says He Would “Oppose” Eminent Domain Abuse as a Legislator
From an Institute for Justice press release:Washington, D.C.—U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote the majority opinion in Kelo v. City of New London upholding eminent domain for private development, said during a speech last week that the result in the case is one "I would have opposed if I were a legislator," the New York Times reported today. In a speech to the Clark County Bar Association in Las Vegas, Stevens noted that the result of his majority opinion in Kelo is "entirely divorced from my judgment as concerning the wisdom of the program" to take homes for private development. "My own view is that the free play of market forces is more likely to produce acceptable results in the long run than the best-intentioned plans of public officials," he said. While Stevens reiterated his belief that eminent domain for economic development is constitutional under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, he noted that as a matter of policy, the result in Kelo is "unwise." "Legislators should take up Justice Stevens on his invitation and advice to end eminent domain abuse," said Scott Bullock, senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, which represents the New London homeowners. "In his majority opinion, Justice Stevens invited states to set stricter standards for the use of eminent domain and now he points out that eminent domain abuse is indeed ‘unwise.' When even the author of the Kelo opinion believes that eminent domain abuse is bad policy, it is clearly time for legislators to act to protect home and small business owners from condemnation for private development." "Eminent domain abuse is unconstitutional, bad policy and just plain wrong," said IJ Senior Attorney Dana Berliner. "Justice Stevens still has the law wrong: ‘public use' never has and never should include taking homes and businesses for ordinary private development that may or may not produce more jobs and tax revenue. But in acknowledging that eminent domain is a poor means of achieving economic development, he has issued an important call for real reform." Following the Supreme Court's ruling, the Institute for Justice and its Castle Coalition grassroots arm launched a $3 million Hands Off My Home campaign. The campaign supports eminent domain reform at the state and local level and equips ordinary Americans with the means to protect their homes, small businesses and churches from eminent domain for private profit. Learn more at www.castlecoalition.org.
Gary Hull on Book TV
Dr. Gary Hull, long-time speaker for the Ayn Rand Institute, will present a lecture on his recently released book, "The Abolition of Antitrust," on Book-TV C-SPAN 2. The show will air this Saturday, August 20, at 9:45 AM, Eastern time. Here is an edited version of Book-TV's description of the show: Gary Hull, editor of the book "The Abolition of Antitrust," argues that antitrust laws are harmful. Mr. Hull and other contributing writers assert that these laws are based on bad economics and the misinterpretation of American business history. Gary Hull is joined by Yaron Brook, president of the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, California, to examine several antitrust cases, including General Electric, Visa/MasterCard, and Kellogg/General Mills. Gary Hull, Ph.D. in philosophy, is director of the Program on Values and Ethics in the Marketplace at Duke University. He has taught philosophy and business ethics at Whittier College and the Claremont Graduate School. He also co-edited "The Ayn Rand Reader."“Peace” in Palestine!
Palestinian terrorists have spent the last several decades trying to shoot, blow-up, and generally maim or kill as many Israelis as possible, often sacrificing their own lives to score some precious Jewish blood. With his people growing weary of the violence, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Shraon finally stumbled across the obvious solution: compromise.It doesn't take a degree from Berkeley to recognize this as a monumental first step towards peace in the Middle East. Being reasonable folks, the Palestinian terrorists are bound to reciprocate. Gone are the days of leaders urging youth to don C4 backpacks on an imaginary road to blissful Islamic martyrdom. Well done, Mr. Sharon! Peace at last!
As the Israeli Gestapo celebrates Kristallnacht in Gaza this week, let's take a look at the other side. How do Palestinian terrorists plan to contribute to the upcoming peace?
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, standing in front of a poster with the caption, Today Gaza, Tomorrow Jerusalem: "Gaza is the first liberation, then comes the West Bank, then every inch of Palestinian land. We are at the beginning of the road and we have not and will not give up our weapons." Terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have spent this week training.
General Ahmed Khaless, Fatah Party Secretary: "The blood of the martyrs brought us to this day. The Israelis did not take this step as a gift to the Palestinian people."
Sami Abu Zahri, a Hamas spokesman: "The resistance, which started the victories in South Lebanon and forced the occupation to leave -- it is repeating the same experience now."
Popular chant at a mosque in Gaza: "You Jews, you Jews, the army of Mohammed and the rule of Islam will come back."
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, in reference to Hamas' military wing: ''The weapon of the resistance is a legitimate one. The departure of the enemy from Gaza does not mean the end of the occupation. So the resistance will continue.''
Abu Walid, a senior Islamic Jihad commander: ''Our enemy should understand that the state of Palestine is not Gaza. It's from the river to the sea.''
Err...never mind.
Search Seizure
From Cox and Forkum:
A solemn handful of plaintiffs surrounded New York Civil Liberties Union head Donna Lieberman last week as she announced the agency's latest lawsuit--this one targeted at new procedures allowing for the random inspection of bags carried onto the subways. This will not come as a surprise--the agency has had an exceptionally busy few years, since 9/11, campaigning against expanding police powers, increased surveillance and other antiterror measures, all of which, the NYCLU and likeminded watchdogs regularly inform us, pose a greater danger than any that might come from the terrorists themselves. ... The head of the NYCLU ... charged not only that the random bag searches didn't work but that they were also likely to lead to racial profiling. She explained how this would happen in a statement that would require, of those who read it, the deciphering talents of the Enigma codebreakers: "Although the NYPD claims that they are conducting searches that are purely random, the large number of people entering the transit system and the lack of control over that traffic result in people being selected for search in a discretionary and arbitrary manner, which creates the potential for impermissible racial profiling." ... Ethnic/racial profiling may not, in fact, work very well as a security strategy--but the frenzy of the attacks it has excited tells more than we may want to know about our post-9/11 condition. Large numbers of citizens of every religion and ethnicity lost their lives in the terrorist attacks. Today, a strategy designed to help ensure that such a calamity will not again occur has been converted to a bizarre race-discrimination issue, subordinated to the concerns and ambitions of politicians. This won't, in the end, do much for the office-seekers and -holders now competing for the honor of delivering the most hysterical denunciations of ethnic and racial profiling. What, after all, can citizens (black and brown among them) think of leaders still prepared to argue that young Arab males receive no more scrutiny than the famous 80-year-old little grandmother--and that the people's security lies in measures clearly the least suited to assuring their safety?
IAEA Seeks Solution to Iran Nuclear Issue
From Cox and Forkum:
The International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to press Iran on Wednesday to reverse its decision to resume a uranium conversion program. Iran restarted uranium conversion -- a step on the way to enrichment -- at its Isfahan nuclear facility Monday, saying it is for peaceful purposes only. Iran has insisted it has the right to have a nuclear fuel recycling program in its quest for greater reliance on nuclear energy. Western nations, however, fear this same uranium enrichment program could also be used by Iran as a front to develop atomic weapons. ... Britain, France and Germany -- the so-called EU-3 -- have led attempts to negotiate a solution with Iran. The United States, which has no diplomatic relations with the Islamic republic, has remained largely in the background. "Our strategy has been all along to work with Germany, France and Great Britain in terms of sending a strong signal and message to Iran," Bush, who once branded Iran as part of an "axis of evil" along with North Korea and Saddam Hussein's Iraq, said on Tuesday.From The New York Post: Atomic Honesty by Amir Taheri:
IF it looks like a duck, cackles like a duck and flies like one, could it be anything other than a duck? This is the question that some of those interested in Iran's nuclear program have been asking for some time. The official line from Tehran has been that the program has solely peaceful purposes. Yet two events last week show that this Iranian discourse is the product of the old tradition of dissimulation known as "kitman." Put simply, this means hiding one's beliefs and practices in hostile environments and at hostile times.
Israel OKs Pullout; Netanyahu Resigns
From Cox and Forkum:
JERUSALEM -- Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resigned from his post Sunday to protest next week's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, a ministry spokesman said. Netanyahu, seen as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's biggest political rival within the Likud Party, submitted a letter of resignation during the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday. The resignation will take effect within 48 hours. Netanyahu wrote that he cannot be part of what he described as a "process that ignores reality and proceeds blindly, creating a base for Islamic terror that will threaten the state." "I am not prepared to be part of this irresponsible act that threatens the security of the Israel," he wrote.And from the Jerusalem Post: Hamas launches contest for best pullout poster (via Laurence Simon).
Hamas launched a competition Saturday for the best design of a Gaza pullout poster, according to a statement posted on the Islamic group's web site. The design must portray the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a victory for Palestinian groups -- in particular, Hamas. The design must also show Israel's "desperation and defeat." In recent weeks, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have been competing for credit for Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, each preparing elaborate celebrations, commissioning thousands of flags and frantically sewing clothing with their trademarks.From Daniel Pipes: "Today Gaza, tomorrow Jerusalem.":
A top Hamas figure in Gaza, Ahmed al-Bahar says "Israel has never been in such a state of retreat and weakness as it is today following more than four years of the intifada. Hamas's heroic attacks exposed the weakness and volatility of the impotent Zionist security establishment. The withdrawal marks the end of the Zionist dream and is a sign of the moral and psychological decline of the Jewish state. We believe that the resistance is the only way to pressure the Jews." A Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri says likewise that the withdrawal is "due to the Palestinian resistance operations. … and we will continue our resistance." Others are more specific. At a mass rally in Gaza City last Thursday, about 10,000 Palestinian Arabs danced, sang, and chanted, "Today Gaza, tomorrow Jerusalem." The commander of Gaza's Popular Resistance Committees, Jamal Abu Samhadaneh announced Sunday, "We will move our cells to the West Bank" and warned "The withdrawal will not be complete without the West Bank and Jerusalem." The Palestinian Authority's Ahmed Qurei also asserts, "Our march will stop only in Jerusalem."Days before his resignation, Caroline Glick of The Jerusalem Post interviewed Benjamin Netanyahu: Netanyahu: Pullout will endanger West (via Little Green Footballs).
Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu believes that in the aftermath of Israel's upcoming departure, "Gaza will be transformed into a base for Islamic terrorism adjacent to the coast of the State of Israel." In an interview with The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, Netanyahu said the terror threat that would develop in a post-withdrawal Gaza would be a danger not only for Israel but for the Western world in general. "This it isn't just our problem," he claimed. "It's the West's problem as well because forces that are controlled, deployed and cooperate with Iran - and today Hizbullah and Hamas are controlled in a significant way by Iran - will receive an additional base of operations not only in close proximity to Israel's cities but also on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea not far from Europe."I can't see any good coming from Israel's unilateral retreat, and Netanyahu is bringing attention to the issue. But for a critical perspective on Netanyahu's resignation, see David Frum (via TIA Daily).
[Netanyahu] timed his resignation not to make a difference, and torpedo the plan, but to make the maximum splash – and to best position himself to try again for Israel's prime ministership. This is the second time he has attempted this trick. In the 1990s for example he won office by opposing Oslo – and then in office continued to follow the Oslo policy. Only he did it in the worst possible way: never daring to withdraw from Oslo but instead carrying the policy out so haltingly and grudgingly as to earn Israel all the blame for Oslo's failure – without any of the putative benefits of actual escape from Oslo.And Aaron's cc says the real credit should go to Natan Sharansky who resigned three months ago, stating:
"In my view, the disengagement plan is a tragic mistake that will exacerbate the conflict with the Palestinians, increase terrorism and dim the prospects of forging a genuine peace." He also criticised Mr Sharon for pushing it through without demanding Palestinian security reforms in return. This is a refrain of the Israeli Right, which accuses Mr Sharon of weakness in promoting a "something for nothing" initiative.
Steven Vincent: American Journalist Killed in Iraq
From Cox and Forkum:
BASRA, Iraq — An American freelance journalist, who accused Basra's police of being infiltrated by Shiite militiamen in a recent New York Times column and his Internet blog, was found shot to death in the southern city after being abducted by armed men driving a police car. Steven Vincent, whose work also has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, and his female Iraqi translator were abducted at gunpoint by five men Tuesday evening as they left a currency exchange shop, police Lt. Col. Karim al-Zaidi said Wednesday. Vincent's body was discovered Tuesday night on the side of the highway south of Basra. He had been shot in the head and body, al-Zaidi said. ... In an opinion column published July 31 in the Times, Vincent wrote that Basra's police force had been heavily infiltrated by members of Shiite political groups, including those loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Vincent quoted an unidentified Iraqi police lieutenant as saying that some police were behind many of the assassinations of former Baath Party members that have taken place in Basra. "He told me that there is even a sort of 'death car' — a white Toyota Mark II that glides through the city streets, carrying off-duty police officers in the pay of extremist religious groups to their next assignment," he wrote. Vincent also was critical of the British military, which is responsible for security in Basra, for turning a blind eye to abuses of power by Shiite extremists in the city. He was the author of "In the Red Zone: A Journey Into the Soul of Iraq," a recently published book that was an account of life in a post-Saddam Iraq. His blog from Iraq — In the Red Zone — chronicled his experiences in Basra from late May to late July. The entries, written as letters to his wife, Lisa, were rich in detail and often humorous.The quote in the cartoon is from Vincent's book. More of the quote can be read in this No Pasaran post, which also referred to a Dreams Into Lightning post containing many other informative links. For instance, in a FrontPageMag.com interview, Vincent elaborates on the "words matter" topic:
The most despicable misuse of terminology, however, occurs when Leftists call the Saddamites and foreign jihadists "the resistance." What an example of moral inversion! For the fact is, paramilitary death squads are attacking the Iraqi people. And those who oppose the killers -- the Iraqi police and National Guardsmen, members of the Allawi government, people like Nour [an Iraqi woman who assisted him] -- they are the "resistance." They are preventing Islamofascists from seizing Iraq, they are resisting evil men from turning the entire nation into a mass slaughterhouse like we saw in re-liberated Falluja. Anyone who cares about success in our struggle against Islamofascism—or upholds principles of moral clarity and lucid thought—should combat such Orwellian distortions of our language.At The Jerusalem Post, Caroline Glick has a must-read eulogy: From Vincent to van Gogh (via Free Thoughts).
On Tuesday evening freelance American journalist Steven Vincent was kidnapped and murdered in Basra. Vincent, who in pre-September 11 America earned his living as an art critic, set out to fight this war after he watched the Twin Towers explode from his rooftop in the East Village in Manhattan. And Tuesday he gave his life in the fight. Vincent did not join the army. He took up his pen and he went to Iraq in the wake of the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime by the US-led coalition in the spring of 2003. No one sent him there. He heard the call to battle from his rooftop that terrible morning and he answered it in the only way he knew. He became a chronicler of post-Saddam Iraq. ... What came through clearly in his writings is that Vincent grasped that the global jihad, as it manifested itself in New York and Washington on September 11 and as it manifests itself on a daily basis in Iraq and indeed throughout the world, is rooted not in terrorism but in culture and religion. And the only way for the US and the rest of the free world to emerge victorious in this war is to expose and destroy the cultural base that spurs millions of Muslims throughout the world to kill and destroy and to support killing and destruction in the name of Islam.
Err America: Financial Scandal Rocks Leftist Radio Network
From Cox and Forkum:
Media: Rush Limbaugh's prescription drug troubles were splashed all over the media. Yet a financial scandal rocking a leftist radio network rates no coverage. The mainstream media, fixated on bringing down Karl Rove, have so far deemed apparent funding irregularities at Air America unworthy of note. But that doesn't make them any less of story. Here's the gist, according to The New York Sun — which is giving the scandal the coverage it deserves — and a few others, mostly bloggers and columnists, who are providing a public service: New York City's Department of Investigation is looking into charges that $875,000 from a Bronx nonprofit group and an affiliate whose budgets are generously stuffed with local, state and federal grants was inappropriately used to fund Air America, the left's counterattack on the colossal success of conservative talk radio. ... Public funds used to prop up a business! Just the kind of scandal that left-leaning media would die for. Yet for some reason they're giving this one a pass. Is it because there are no mean ol' conservatives to blame? When Limbaugh's problems with painkillers came to light, the mainstream media could hardly contain themselves. They called him a "pill popper" and hypocrite and cheered for release of his medical records. And when he returned to the air, they couldn't talk enough about his stay in rehab. ...Nothing wrong, mind you, with reporting on Limbaugh's woes. Nothing, that is, as long as the media cover flaws of those on the left with equal enthusiasm.UPDATE -- Aug. 5: Michelle Malkin has been following the controversy closely:
AIR ENRON: THUMB-TWIDDLING MSM
AIR ENRON: QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS
Islam Likely Main Basis for Iraqi Law
From Cox and Forkum:
CAIRO, Egypt - The framers of Iraq's constitution appear likely to enshrine Islam as the main basis of law in the country — a stronger role than the United States had hoped for and one some Iraqis fear will mean a more fundamentalist regime. Arab constitutions vary widely over the role of Islamic law, ranging from Lebanon, where the word "Islam" never appears, to Saudi Arabia, which says the Quran itself is its constitution. Culture weighs far more heavily than the constitution and law, particularly when it comes to women. In Gulf nations — where the constitutions spell out a slightly lesser role for Islamic law, or Sharia, than in Egypt — women are more segregated and wear more conservative veils covering the entire face. Kuwait, for example, bans alcohol and only gave women the right to vote this year, in contrast to Egypt, where beer, wine and liquor are sold openly and women have been voting since the early 20th century. Yet most Gulf nations' constitutions state that Sharia is "a main source" of legislation, while Egypt takes the more definitive phrasing of "the source" — a fine distinction taking on major importance in Iraq. Former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat amended the constitution during the 1970s, changing the language from "a source" to "the source" to beef up his Islamic credentials rather than to start implementing Sharia. But in Iraq, some fear the Shiite Muslim leaders who want similar wording in Iraq's constitution hope to lay the groundwork for a more fundamentalist rule, at least in Shiite-dominated areas. Already, Shiite leaders in some southern cities have tried imposing Islamic-based rules, pressuring women to wear headscarves and forcing liquor stores and music shops to close.As Charles Johnson noted: "If Iraq does adopt the barbaric 14th century code of shari'a as the basis for their constitution, the terrorists truly will have won." For years we've been criticizing the Bush administration for allowing even the possibility of a fundamentalist Islamic state in Iraq. For example: Regime Change, Faith in Politics, Majority Rule?, Vote of Non-confidence, and Democracy Is. Contrary to reassurances from Colin Powell and Bush, some form of theocracy seems more and more likely. From The Washington Times: Iraqi women urge U.S. to protect their rights (via Free Thoughts).
Iraqi women took their fight for equal rights to American lawmakers yesterday, urging them to use their influence to see that women's rights are protected in the new constitution. With just 10 days until delegates in Baghdad present the final draft of Iraq's basic law, it is still not clear how large a role will be given to Islamic Shariah law, which traditionally subordinates women to men. "The [American] men and women, the brave people who went there to free [Iraqis] from Saddam [Hussein], they didn't free them to put them under another dictatorship; that is very clear to all of us," said Basma Fakri, president of the Women's Alliance for a Democratic Iraq. During an appearance in Washington yesterday, she said it was entirely appropriate for President Bush, the Senate and House to let Iraq's constitutional negotiators know "that Iraq should be free." "That was the mission. We don't want to go back in time, we don't want to create another dictatorship. That should be clear and loud to the Iraqi government and to the constitutional committee," she said.