Monthly Archives: July 2002

After mentioning the apparent apocalypse

After mentioning the apparent apocalypse that I fear will accompany the commencement of America’s final strike against Sadam Hussein, I received (courtesy of Laurie Mylroie) the following account from the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv (Israel’s second largest Hebrew language newspaper) of Israel’s preparation for the Saddam’s anticipated response: “Homat Barzel” [Iron Wall] — this will be the alert code to be used by the IDF Home Front Command to warn the »

Mona Charen provides more on

Mona Charen provides more on Salah Shehadeh and the sickening double standard applied to Israel’s efforts to defend itself against destruction. »

Rocket Man and I share

Rocket Man and I share the belief that President Bush is staking the power of the United States on shifting the tectonic plates underneath the Middle East, and that as a result the ground there is shifting. We do not doubt that in a matter of months we will have undertaken the task of deposing Saddam Hussein and installing a decent government in Iraq. I fear that for a few »

Today’s Jerusalem Post has a

Today’s Jerusalem Post has a marvelous piece by Michael Freund on “Jewish Heritage Day” at Shea Stadium in New York this past Sunday. He calls the piece “Seventh Inning Kvetch” because it questions the continuing viability of America’s diminishing Jewish community. It comes as news to me that the Mets have a “Jewish Heritage Day” event and that 30,000 Jews show up to cheer the Mets on in observance of »

Martin Peretz is the former

Martin Peretz is the former owner of the venerable New Republic magazine. (He recently sold a substantial percentage of his ownership interest to others.) He is also a longstanding and articulate defender of Israel’s right to defend itself against the unceasing depredations of its neighbors. Peretz is as knowledgeable of the admirable qualities of Israel and its citizens as anyone who writes in the American media and he has demonstrated »

Israel’s assassination last week of

Israel’s assassination last week of Salah Shehadeh, the Hamas military leader responsible for the wanton murder of scores of Israeli men, women, and childen, has met with almost universal condemnation because of the Palestinian civilians (numbering about 10) who were killed in the attack. The assassination was accomplished by means of a single one-ton bomb launched by the Israeli Air Force. Not even Israelis publicly defend the operation, at least »

Yesterday my entire family marched

Yesterday my entire family marched in a local parade in support of a Congressional candidate named John Kline. It was fun; there were floats and participants of various kinds, mostly non-political, but nearly all the candidates were represented in one way or another. Kline had the biggest group of any of the candidates; we wore red tee-shirts and made an impressive display of support. My kids handed out stickers with »

Meanwhile, Debka File reports that

Meanwhile, »

The Administration is completing a

The Administration is completing a stunning reversal of decades-old policy on the Middle East. In an under-reported speech on Friday, UN Ambassador Negroponte set out the conditions that must be met for the US to approve any UN resolution on the Mideast conflict. Among other things, the requirements include an explicit condemnation of terrorism; condemnation by name of Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade and Hamas; and improvement in Israel’s secrity »

I took my two youngest

I took my two youngest daughters to the Twins game this afternoon. The Twins are playing in a zone right now that makes them great fun to watch. Their starting pitcher today was Johan Santana, who I do not believe made the team out of spring training. Santana gave up two hits in eight innings while striking out 14 Blue Jays (I think). Guardado pitched the ninth and gave up »

The American Enterprise is the

The American Enterprise is the flagship publication of the American Enterprise Institute and is one of our favorite magazines. Karl Zinsmeister is the magazine’s editor and has maintained the magazine’s quality at a high level. The current issue is devoted to Wall Street and the economy. Zinsmeister’s introductory piece sets the tone that marks the issue as an oasis of sanity in an ocean of hysteria. In the same issue’s »

Bin Laden is dead. More

Bin Laden is dead. More leaks are starting to come out; this is from the Baltimore Sun, quoting two “senior U.S. intelligence officials,” one from the FBI and one from the CIA. These officials say that “several indications” “seem to point to the likelihood of bin Laden’s death.” For the first time, they have disclosed that members of bin Laden’s personal security guard were captured in Afghanistan and are being »

In this lengthy article in

In this lengthy article in Partisan Review, Bruce Bawer contrasts the relative success of the United States in assimilating Muslim immigrants with the disaster that is unfolding in Western Europe. His description of the European situation is, I think, accurate and depressing, notwithstanding recent events that Bawer sees as grounds for optimism. He notes the fundamental difference between the American and Western European attitudes toward immigration–anyone born in America is »

Reuel Marc Gerecht is a

Reuel Marc Gerecht is a Farsi-speaking former CIA agent who worked for the agency on the ground in Iran. He wrote a fascinating book about his experience as an agent, Know Thine Enemy. Since leaving the agency he has established himself as one of the few invaluable commentators on the Middle East. The issue of the Weekly Standard out this morning has an excellent piece about the administration’s Middle East »

The Democrats’ strategy for November

The Democrats’ strategy for November is to emphasize corporate scandals, and so far it clearly is working. Check out the latest polls at Real Clear Politics. The Republicans had pulled ahead in the generic Congressional preference polls, but not the results are consistently favoring the Democrats. This makes a certain kind of sense, I guess, in that there are probably people who vaguely feel that at times when business needs »

Thanks almost entirely to Rocket

Thanks almost entirely to Rocket Man’s inspiration and perspiration, we have co-authored a couple articles that appeared in National Review. The first one was a piece criticizing the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalistic duo of Donald Barlett and James Steele and their extremely bad book, “America: Who Really Pays the Taxes?” According to Barlett and Steele, of course, only average Americans pay taxes while “the rich” escape scot-free–roughly the opposite of the »

Rocket Man’s invocation of Margaret

Rocket Man’s invocation of Margaret Thatcher more or less completes my thoughts today. From Churchill to Thatcher, from Friedman to Reagan, I am struck by the power of their audacity in articulating the truth in the face of contempt and derision. Recall, for example, the triumphant return of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain from Munich on October 1, 1938, announcing the agreement with Hitler that promised to preserve “peace with honor.” »