Monthly Archives: April 2003

April 26, 2003 — John Hinderaker

Ansar al-Islam Seen as Al Qaeda Spinoff

The New York Times reports on documents that were recovered when the Ansar al-Islam base in northern Iraq was overrun by American and Kurdish soldiers. The materials include training manuals in bomb-making and poison manufacture that are more or less identical to those recovered from al Qaeda hideouts in Afghanistan. There is some history here: “Documents gathered in 2001 by a correspondent for The New York Times 1,300 miles away »
April 26, 2003 — John Hinderaker

Homeward Bound

After nearly three months in Alaska, my work is coming to an unexpectedly swift conclusion. It looks like I’ll be back home no later than Friday of next week. It’s been fun, for the most part, and Alaska is a fascinating place. Especially once you get past March. But it will be great to be home. »
April 26, 2003 — Scott Johnson

Victor Davis Hanson: An interview

Jeff Swanson has alerted us to an interview with Victor Davis Hanson from the Naval Institute Proceedings. »
April 26, 2003 — Scott Johnson

You might say he enjoys writing

Yesterday’s Star Tribune carried a warm profile of Ray Bradbury by Graydon Royce in connection with the bilingual staging of a dramatized version of one of Bradbury’s stories: “Ray Bradbury’s more than a science fiction writer.” »
April 26, 2003 — Scott Johnson

Havel as Orwell

The folks at No Left Turns have steered us to this extremely interesting article on Vaclav Havel by Matt Welch: “Havel as Orwell.” »
April 26, 2003 — Scott Johnson

Hell in a Cuban prison

Thanks to the guys at RealClearPolitics for posting this horrifying message from a man being murdered by degrees: “Hell in a Cuban prison.” This morning I am preparing to debate the merits of the USA PATRIOT Act with a law professor who is a past president of the National Lawyers Guild. To learn just about everything you need to know about the National Lawyers Guild, contrast “Hell in a Cuban »
April 26, 2003 — Scott Johnson

A Marine’s story

The Wall Street Journal has made available online William McGurn’s incredibly moving portrait of Marine Lt. Dustin Ferrell: “A Marine’s story.” McGurn’s column graphically portrays the value of training military officers on our college campuses and the desirability of restoring ROTC to our elite educational institutions. »
April 26, 2003 — Scott Johnson

When 10 is too few…

On April 5 we posted a New York Times feature on Tom Wolfe. The Times has now posted audio excerpts of the interview piece of that feature together with “10 questions from readers.” In the answer to the final question, about “the new journalism” today, Wolfe says: “There is virtually no New Journalism in newspapers today and very little in magazines. But it does live on in books. Mark Bowden’s »
April 26, 2003 — Scott Johnson

Saddam’s cash

The new issue of the Weekly Standard has a good recap of the George Galloway story with a surprising American twist: “Saddam’s cash.” »
April 26, 2003 — John Hinderaker

And on the Home Front…

Country music star Toby Keith performs at a tribute for outgoing National Rifle Association president Charlton Heston in Orlando earlier today. I actually met Charlton Heston a couple of years ago in London. More accurately, I didn’t quite meet him, but he held a door open for me and several of my children. I was pretty sure it was him but was too diffident to say anything, but as I »
April 26, 2003 — John Hinderaker

From the Front

With newspaper headlines dominated by Shiite demonstrations and sporadic violence, Army Times brings a sense of perspective and optimism. Here are a couple of today’s photos: A GI on patrol gets a kiss from a young Iraqi girl. Here, Iraqi children wave to an American soldier in Baghdad. »
April 26, 2003 — John Hinderaker

Mitch Berg’s New Home

Mitch Berg, one of Minnesota’s foremost bloggers, has a new home for his Shot in the Dark web site. Check it out. »
April 25, 2003 — John Hinderaker

Fraud on the Court in Ann Arbor?

A free-lance writer from Ann Arbor named Chetly Zarko claims that the University of Michigan suppressed a study of the effects of its race-discrimination policies that concluded that “racial preference programs actually stigmatize African-Americans, that individuals from different groups don »
April 25, 2003 — Paul Mirengoff

The darling of a vanishing constituency

Jim Geraghty for National Review Online brings our attention back to the fascinating matter of Democratic presidential politics, and specifically the progress, or lack thereof, of Joe Lieberman’s campaign. Geraghty notes that Lieberman “is having only a marginally better spring than the Detroit Tigers,” baseball’s worst team by far. This is true with respect both to fundraising and polling in key primary states. Lieberman, of course, cannot be nominated. But »
April 25, 2003 — Scott Johnson

Don’t forget Baghdad Bob!

The inspirational paragraph of the column by Victor Davis Hanson to which Deacon links below is this one: “What will the theocracy [of Iran] do when Internet cafes, uncensored television and radio, and free papers spring up across the border in Iraq? How, after all, do you fight such a strangely off-the-wall culture as our own, which turns the villainous Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf into ‘Baghdad Bob,’ with his own website »
April 25, 2003 — Paul Mirengoff

Winning the peace

Victor Davis Hanson for National Review Online suggests that the war against Saddam Hussein may actually have been the “hard part” and that there are many good reasons for optimism about what lies ahead in Iraq and elsewhere in the region. In short, we may well “win the peace.” »
April 25, 2003 — Scott Johnson

The “Abu Earless” brigade

I would very much like to introduce Phil Steger to Ahmed Hussein, one of the “‘Abu earless’ brigade” profiled in Newsweek’s interesting feature. (Courtesy of RealClearPolitics.) But I suppose that if Adnan Shati could not shame Phil Steger, the earless brigade couldn’t either — although the members of the brigade might feel better about their hearing impairment if they knew it kept them from hearing Steger. »