Monthly Archives: December 2003

December 30, 2003 — Scott Johnson

Death over life

Dennis Prager has a simply great column on a fact that has not been given the attention it deserves: The deranged rejection by the mad mullahs of Iran of humanitarian assistance from Israel. Prager’s column is “Iran clarifies the Middle East.” Prager writes: “If you want to understand the Middle East conflict, Iran has just provided all you need to know. A massive earthquake kills between 20,000 and 40,000 Iranians, »
December 30, 2003 — Paul Mirengoff

Our readers

are the greatest. Several remembered, as I should have, that it was New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael who is said to have wondered how Nixon could have won the 1972 election when everyone she knew had voted for McGovern. Joshua Sharf, proprietor of the View from a Height blog, was the first to bring this to my attention. Fraters Libertas also wrote us, pointing out that Ms Kael was »
December 30, 2003 — John Hinderaker

Sunni Clerics Urge Peace

This seems hopeful: “In Saddam’s hometown, Tikrit, influential spiritual leaders from the Sunni Muslim minority said yesterday that they are joining forces to persuade Iraqis to abandon the violent insurgency. Sheik Sabah Mahmoud, leader of the Sada tribe, told the Associated Press that he and 10 other tribal elders have formed a reconciliation committee in Tikrit to speak to other Iraqi leaders about trying to persuade rebels to put down »
December 30, 2003 — John Hinderaker

Syrian Role in Arming Iraq Detailed

Check out this fascinating article in the Los Angeles Times on how Iraq used bogus private companies and an illicit relationship with Syria to import substantial quantities of banned military equipment in the years leading up to the war. (We try to avoid linking to the Times because of its cumbersome registration procedure, but this piece of original reporting is worth it.) The Times’ analysis is based on files that »
December 30, 2003 — Scott Johnson

Hugh looks into his crystal ball

The great Hugh Hewitt is not only a seer, he is the single most magnanimous man we have ever met. Handed the crystal ball by National Review Online and asked to make New Year’s Predictions for 2004 together with Rick Brookhiser, Jonah Goldberg, K-Lo, Clifford May, Kate O’Beirne, Peter Robinson, and Andrew Stuttaford, he goes out of his way to plug Power Line. Among his other, slightly more likely predictions, »
December 29, 2003 — Paul Mirengoff

They only look dead

One of our favorite columnists, Bret Stephens of the Jerusalem Post, suggests that three great political parties are in danger of dying. The three are the Democratic party of the U.S., the Conservative party of Great Britain, and the Labor party of Israel. Stephens does not predict the demise of any of the parties, although he sees Labor’s as a real possibility. But he does insist that to remain competitive, »
December 29, 2003 — Scott Johnson

Tony Judt speaks

Tony Judt is the prominent NYU professor who combines the worst of Europe and self-hating liberal Jewishness in calling for the disestablishment of Israel because Israel is, well, bad for the Jews. According to Judt, the epidemic of anti-Semitism in Europe and elsewhere is a result of the (alleged) historic injustice associated with Israel’s founding. This week’s Forward reports on an interesting interview with him in which his train of »
December 29, 2003 — John Hinderaker

English Clerics Support Torture, Mass Murder

Some years ago the main-line Christian denominations were taken over by leftists; the process is even more far gone in Europe than in America. Hence this utterly bizarre news story: “Two Top Bishops Last Night Warned Tony Blair Must Answer to God for Toppling Saddam Hussein”. Yes, that’s right. God was in Saddam’s corner all the way: “The Bishop of Durham and the Archbishop of York blasted the war in »
December 29, 2003 — John Hinderaker

Things Can’t Get Much Worse

For John Kerry, that is. The photo below appeared in the Concord Monitor and has been the subject of considerable hilarity in New Hampshire. It isn’t clear whether the picture was a set-up or not; the 17-year-old wearing the tee-shirt apparently is a Republican. »
December 29, 2003 — John Hinderaker

A Man of My Word

I wouldn’t normally do it, but to fulfill my pledge to Deacon, here is a picture of Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach from Yahoo News Photos: It doesn’t look quite like that here in Minnesota, or in Utah, where the Rocket Prof got snowed in and was still without power as of yesterday morning. Hey, it gives us something to look forward to. Of course, there isn’t really any time »
December 29, 2003 — John Hinderaker

Drugs and al Qaeda

Peter Brookes has an interesting piece on the effort to deny financing to al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist organizations: “Two weeks ago, six Arabs with suspected al Qaeda links were arrested in Syria carrying $23 million in cash, according to administration officials. (Syria has not confirmed this report.) If true, this is believed to be the largest netting of terrorist bulk cash since the War on Terror began over »
December 29, 2003 — Paul Mirengoff

Steyn takes stock

Mark Steyn finds it obvious that America is winning the war against terrorism. Here’s his distillation of the last two year: “Taliban gone, Saddam gone, Gadhafi retired, Osama ‘resting.’ ‘Message: America wins’ is as accurate a summation of the last two years as any. Whether or not you think American victory is a good thing is another matter. But a smart anti-American ought to recognize that generally things are going »
December 29, 2003 — John Hinderaker

Report on Saddam’s Interrogation

Iyad Allawi, a member of Iraq’s Governing Council, has told the Arab newspapers Al-Hayat and Asharq al-Awsat that during his interrogation, Saddam Hussein has confessed to looting billions of dollars from Iraq and stashing it in banks around the world. The Governing Council estimates that Saddam may have stolen $40 billion. The most interesting part of Allawi’s report, as quoted in Asharq al-Awsat, is the following: “Saddam has started to »
December 29, 2003 — Paul Mirengoff

Orthodox Jews

I’m back from a weekend trip to Rochester, New York for a family event. At a dinner on Friday night, I had an encounter with a New York Jew that is similar to several I have had with liberal Jews here in the Washington, D.C. area — a total stranger with whom I was talking assumed that I was politically liberal before I had said anything about politics. We were »
December 29, 2003 — John Hinderaker

Walter Mondale Loses It

The Claremont Institute, where the Trunk and I are “adjunct fellows,” has posted the original, complete version of “Walter Mondale Loses It.” The Minneapolis Star Tribune printed a slightly revised version on its editorial page a week or so ago; the Trunk wrote the piece by editing together a couple of his Power Line posts. As usual, Power Line readers got the story first. Townhall also linked to the Claremont »
December 28, 2003 — John Hinderaker

Say It Ain’t So!

I checked out Mitch Berg’s excellent blog, Shot in the Dark–a great name, I think–and found that he had taken an on-line personality test called “What Famous Leader Are You?” He said he was aiming for Ronald Reagan, but was classified as John Kennedy: Naturally, I couldn’t resist. I took the test. Reagan, Churchill, maybe George W.–how could I go wrong? Here is the “famous leader” they say I resemble: »
December 28, 2003 — John Hinderaker

A Sad Story

Shmuel Yurfest is an Israeli surgeon who has saved the lives of many people, including lots of Palestinians. Last May, he reattached the severed hand of a Palestinian terrorist who was injured when his bomb blew up prematurely. “I have saved the lives of many terrorists,” Yurfest says. “But the only reason this one walks on this planet with both his hands is because of my work.” While performing the »