Monthly Archives: November 2004

November 19, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

A tough sell

Chrenkoff reports on attempts to blame America for the execution of CARE Australia’s Baghdad chief, Margaret Hassan. There may be a lot at stake here. Earlier today, Trunk posted a message from Baghdad that stated: There was much uproar about the brutal kidnapping killing of Mrs. Margaret Hassan. Iraqis are upset outraged and disgusted with her brutal abduction & killing. She helped us, helped the poor & needy and this »
November 19, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

Workers of the world organization unite

A union representing United Nations staff has voted “no confidence” in senior U.N. management, according to Fox News. This is the first time that the union has has cast such a vote. Unfortunately, the union stopped short of singling out Kofi Annan, the U.N. Secretary General. In fact the union president said the group has confidence in Annan. However, Fox News has a copy of the union resolution and reports »
November 19, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Sharansky’s message

Natan Sharansky, former refusenik and Soviet prisoner, current Israeli cabinget minister, is one of the great men of our time. We have frequently written about him on this site, most recently in “Facing down the pacifists.” In that post we quoted Tom Rose’s interview of Sharansky (“The view from the Gulag”) from the issue of the Weekly Standard that commemorated Ronald Reagan on the occasion of his death last summer. »
November 19, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Jihad for dummies

In searching for reports on Fallujah’s human slaughterhouses, I have come across reports that the torso of the dismembered woman discovered in Fallujah appears to be that of British aid worker Margaret Hassan: “DNA tests to reveal if body is Hassan.” The most recent news reports that I have been able to find on Fallujah’s slaughterhouses are dated November 10. See, for example, the Telegraph’s “US finds Fallujah ‘slaughterhouses.'” The »
November 19, 2004 — Scott Johnson

A tribute to Mr. SquarePants

Just in time for the opening of the long-awaited movie today, the Wall Street Journal features Tunku Varadarajan’s tribute to SpongeBob SquarePants: “A hero for our time.” The initial reviews appear to be mixed. The Washington Times opines that “‘SpongeBob sinks on story,” although the New York Post declares the film “spongeworthy” and urges viewers to “Soak up the fun.” If the New York Times plays the role of tiebreaker, »
November 19, 2004 — Scott Johnson

It’s the jihad, stupid

On balance, Ohio voters noticed that a jihadist war is being waged against the United States and preferred President Bush to conduct its defense. That’s my take on the Wall Street Journal’s analysis of “How Bush camp won Ohio.” Coincidentally, today’s Christian Science Monitor carries an instructive rundown on the contents of a safe house operating as an Islamic medical charity in Fallujah: “Fallujah yields up weapons, videos.” The Monitor »
November 19, 2004 — Scott Johnson

A message from Baghdad

Our reader Haider Ajina phoned his father in Baghdad for an update on Iraqi sentiment concerning the Marine killing. Haider sends us the following message: I just got of the phone with my father in Baghdad. I asked him what is the reaction of the Marine killing the injured Iraqi in the Mosque in Felujah. His first words were “Good riddance.” People are not giving it a second thought. Any »
November 18, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Allawi Backs Marines

A day or two ago, Iraq’s Prime Minister Allawi was widely quoted as being deeply disturbed, or some such phrase, by the dispatching of a wounded terrorist by a Marine in Fallujah. Today he made a more complete statement in Arabic. Haider Ajina translated this quote from tomorrow’s Al Nahrein newspaper: Iraqi Prime Minister Dr. Allawi said that he would reserve all comments on the death of the injured Iraqi »
November 18, 2004 — John Hinderaker

“Delay Rule” A Good Thing

A Democrat named Michael Wuflestad sent us the following email: Help, I searched your site, NRO’s, Hewitt’s, Joe Carter’s (the evangelical outpost) for at least the lock-step GOP spin on DeLay’s pardon-the-pun “pardon” in burying the Rostenkowski’s indictment rules. The silence is deafening. I did, though, read portions of the “cheaten democrats” article posted on your site and was intrigued by the premise: “key Democrat leaders now regard issues and »
November 18, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Iranian Boy Killed for Breaking Ramadan Fast

Reader Janet Nilson pointed out this appalling story, complete with a photo, about a fourteen year old Iranian boy who was sentenced by a clerical court to receive 85 lashes for breaking his fast during Ramadan. (I assume this means eating between sunrise and sundown.) The sentence was carried out, and the boy died. The only hopeful note in the article is that townspeople where the boy lived were so »
November 18, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

You’re not in “Jesusland” anymore

Though many American liberals continue to regard Europe as a model of sophistication and humanism, and thus a great potential check on rampant U.S. “cowboyism,” Europe actually is a bit of a fever swamp. There’s nothing new about this — think of pre-World War II Europe. The re-emergence of European anti-semitism, though under-reported, is no secret either. In truth, though, Europe was essentially racist even during the golden age of »
November 18, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Rockets Everywhere

First Rick Vatsaas turned my rocket icon into an actual, flying, four and a half foot tall rocket. Now reader Jack Wyatt points out that MSNBC and Audi have stolen my icon for a story, or ad, or something, about inventing. I’m consulting my legal counsel about whether to sue. I probably won’t, though, since I found the icon through a Google Images search, and, as another reader pointed out »
November 18, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Zarqawi Headquarters Said Discovered

American troops have reported taking control of what appears to be Zarqawi’s main base of operations in Fallujah: U.S. troops sweeping through Fallujah on Thursday said they believe they have found the main headquarters of the insurgent group headed by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. In video shot by an embedded CNN cameraman, soldiers walked through an imposing building with concrete columns and with a large sign in Arabic on »
November 18, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Evidence of the French fighting spirit

…has been located among the corpses of the enemy in Iraq: “French insurgents killed in Iraq.” »
November 18, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Clarke Testimony Released

It has been widely speculated that the Democrats will use Condoleezza Rice’s confirmation hearing as an opportunity to resurrect the charge that she failed to heed warnings about al Qaeda given by Richard Clarke during the transition from the Clinton administration to the Bush administration. The point would not be to refuse to confirm her, but to once again use Clarke’s charges to discredit both Rice in particular and the »
November 18, 2004 — Scott Johnson

George Orwell, call your office

George Orwell had a special connection with Barcelona. See, for example, the excerpt “Barcelona, 1936” from Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia, or the 2002 essay “Beyond irony: The legacy of George Orwell in Barcelona.” Last week the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and Unesco invited a group of experts to Barcelona to discuss contemporary anti-Semitism. We would have been fools to hold high expectations for the conclave, »
November 18, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Alexander the Gait

The New York Post covers the run-up to the opening of Oliver Stone’s latest, a sword and sandal epic with a different twist: “Light in the sandals.” I may be wrong, but I don’t think this film stands to break Stone’s streak of execrable movies dating back to 1986’s agitprop bomb “Salvador.” »