Best of the Web Today - January 29, 2004
By JAMES TARANTO
Winning the War, Then the Debate
Today's lull in the presidential campaign affords us an opportunity to look at the latest developments in the weird postwar debate over Iraq, in which certain American and British politicians and journalists, for reasons of partisanship, ideology or self-aggrandizement, have for months been trying to transform victory over Saddam Hussein into defeat for America and its allies.
For one, the kerfuffle over the BBC's "report" last summer that the British government had "sexed up" a report on Saddam Hussein's arsenal has been resolved. Tony Blair's government stands vindicated, while heads are rolling at the Beeb.
Yesterday, after the Hutton Inquiry found the BBC's claims "unfounded," BBC chairman Gavin Davies tendered his resignation, the BBC itself reports. Today director general Greg Dyke followed suit, the Daily Telegraph reports. Dyke had apologized yesterday on the Beeb's behalf.
On this side of the Atlantic, Democrats earlier this week jumped on departing weapons inspector David Kay's assertion that he believes it unlikely Iraq still had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction by the time the coalition liberated the country from Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. But Kay repudiated the Dems' charges that inaccurate intelligence estimates were the product of political manipulation by the White House. From his testimony yesterday to the Senate Armed Services Committee:
In the course of doing that, I had innumerable [intelligence] analysts who came to me in apology that the world that we were finding was not the world that they had thought existed and that they had estimated. Reality on the ground differed in advance.
And never--not in a single case--was the explanation, "I was pressured to do this." The explanation was very often, "The limited data we had led one to reasonably conclude this. I now see that there's another explanation for it."
Earlier in the week a New York Times editor "sexed up" the paper's coverage of Kay, leading the paper to publish this embarrassing correction Tuesday:
Because of an editing error, a front-page article yesterday about David A. Kay, the C.I.A.'s former weapons inspector, misstated his view of whether the agency's analysts had been pressured by the Bush administration to tailor their prewar intelligence reports about Iraq's weapons programs to conform to a White House political agenda. Mr. Kay said he believed that there was no such pressure, not that there was. (His view was correctly reflected in a quotation that followed the error.)
At the same time, it turns out that the war may have been all about oil--for those who took Saddam's side, that is. The Daily Telegraph picks up a report from an independent Iraqi newspaper, which says it has documents showing that Saddam "bribed his way around the world, buying the support of presidents, ministers, legislators, political parties and even Christian churches":
According to the newspaper al-Mada, one of the new publications that have emerged since the removal of the dictator, Saddam offered each of his friends lucrative contracts to trade in millions of barrels of Iraqi crude under the United Nations oil-for-food programme.
The 270 individuals and organisations alleged to be in his pay included the sons of a serving Arab president, Arab ministers, a prominent Indonesian leader, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, the party led by the Russian nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky and even the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Middle East Media Research Institute reprints al-Mada's list with the disclaimer that "MEMRI is not responsible for the accuracy of the details with regard to the names listed or the amount of oil granted."
Journalists Circle the Wagons
Britain's National Union of Journalists is threatening to strike in defense of Andrew Gilligan, the BBC reporter who sexed up his report on the Iraq dossier, the London Evening Standard reports:
Journalist Mr Gilligan will have the union's "complete support" if the BBC takes disciplinary action following Lord Hutton's report, said NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear.
"Our reaction would be to immediately back him, to represent him at any subsequent hearings, and to argue with our members that they should take whatever action is necessary to protect his position. . . .
"The worst thing that could come out of the Hutton report would be for journalists to become timid in the face of government attempts to manipulate the news agenda."
Agence France-Presse reports that Lord Brian Hutton, the judge who led the inquiry, "was accused of a "whitewash" by much of Britain's daily press for clearing Prime Minister Tony Blair's government of wrongdoing while rebuking the BBC." Among those defending the Beeb, predictably enough, are the left-wing Daily Mirror, Independent and Guardian--but also the right-wing Daily Mail. And then there's this commentary:
It was so good for Tony Blair that some of his closest allies in the government were worried that it was frankly too good.
Did Lord Hutton's unexpectedly unambiguous and full-hearted endorsement of almost every act by ministers and civil servants in the Kelly affair look like a whitewash?
That commentary, by Andrew Marr, appeared on the BBC's very own Web site; Marr is the Beeb's political editor. Meanwhile, the Press Association, a British wire service, quotes a document Gilligan submitted to the Hutton inquiry, in which Gilligan argued that reporters should be allowed a "margin for error": "It is important to have in mind that in the context of political reporting, it can be right to report matters, even if it later turns out that they are untrue."
Everyone makes mistakes, of course, but when journalists start asserting a right to be inaccurate, they only harm the cause of a vigorous and independent press, which is crucial to democracy.
Palestinian Police Action
A suicide bomber murdered 10 people this morning when he blew up a bus in Israel's capital, the Jerusalem Post reports. The murderer, 24-year-old Ali Jaara, has been identified as a "policeman" for Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority.
Arafat won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.
The good news, such as it is, is that such massacres seem to be a good deal less frequent than they were a year or two ago. Maybe that fence Israel is building isn't such a bad idea after all.
Both Sides With John Kerry
Former Democratic front-runner Howard Dean recently criticized current Democratic front-runner John Kerry for taking the wrong positions (by Dean's lights) on both the liberation of Kuwait, which Kerry opposed, and the liberation of Iraq, which he supported. As we all know, Kerry has tried to have it both ways on Iraq, voting "yes" on the October 2002 resolution authorizing war, then proclaiming himself shocked that President Bush actually waged the war Congress authorized.
It turns out Kerry was no less two-faced about Kuwait 13 years ago. The New Republic's blogger Noam Scheiber credits TNR intern Josh Benson with digging up an item that appeared in the magazine's March 25, 1991, issue, quoting a pair of letters Kerry wrote to constituent Wallace Carter of Newton Centre, Mass.:
Jan. 22, 1991: "Thank you for contacting me to express your opposition . . . to the early use of military force by the US against Iraq. I share your concerns. On January 11, I voted in favor of a resolution that would have insisted that economic sanctions be given more time to work and against a resolution giving the president the immediate authority to go to war."
Jan. 31, 1991: "Thank you very much for contacting me to express your support for the actions of President Bush in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. From the outset of the invasion, I have strongly and unequivocally supported President Bush's response to the crisis and the policy goals he has established with our military deployment in the Persian Gulf."
Kerry's French Connection
"Brice Lalonde, ancien ministre de l'environnement du gouvernement Rocard et ancien leader de Génération Ecologie (GE), espère que son cousin, le démocrate John Kerry, sera élu président des Etats-Unis," reports Agence France-Presse.
Sorry we had to use a foreign-language dispatch there, but we couldn't find the English version anywhere on the publicly accessible Web. Factiva, however, has it: "Former French environment minister Brice Lalonde on Wednesday said he was backing his first cousin US Senator John Kerry in his bid to take the Democratic presidential nomination."
That's right, it turns out he doesn't just look French. Apparently the haughty Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way served in Vietnam, actually has blood ties to America's most annoying erstwhile ally.
A French blogress who identifies herself only as Carine translates a report from French TV station TF1:
Lalonde: He [Kerry] knows the world, you know, and contrary to many other Americans, he has traveled a lot. Hence he has European connections. He is a big supporter of the environment.
TF1 journalist: A support committee has been created for John Kerry in Paris. But the family doesn't want to do too much. Asserted connections in France could harm the candidate who's only at the very beginning of his run.
In fairness, Lalonde seems to have some pretty sensible views, for a French guy. Carine translates excerpts from an October 2002 article he published in Le Figaro, a French newspaper:
It is good form to make fun of George Bush. The axis of evil seems simplistic. Our prime minister should wonder about the financing of the mutineers that occupy the north of Ivory Coast, he should keep an eye on the islamic projection in tropical Africa, troubles in Kenya, the sharia in Nigeria. He should take into consideration the support of Iraq to terrorism, the scattering of new weapons after the decay of the Soviet Union, the gassing of Kurds' villages, the rewards offered to families of human bombs of Palestine. He should check the origin of the funds and training of certain humanitarian or cultural associations. He should see the world as it becomes, he should evaluate the importance of demography. . . .
Between fascism and resistance, everyone will have to take sides. That is the reason why we should act first, help the democrats of the Muslim world, contribute to the well-being of their people, find a solution in the Middle East, but not give up anything to Islamist fascism. When an enemy declares war upon us, mobilization is the only priority.
Then again, Kerry was pro-war in October 2002 too.
An Inside Look at the Front-Runner's Strategy
"I guess I'll ride a bucking bronco or a bull or something. I'm game. Whatever they got."--John Kerry on how to win votes in Missouri, quoted in the Boston Globe, Jan. 29
Whatever Happened to Separation of Church and State?
"Kerry Picks Up Pastor Endorsement"--headline, Arizona Republic, Jan. 29
Prophetic Hypothetical Bumper Stickers
"If Joe Trippi, Howard Dean's campaign manager, had a bumper sticker, it would read, 'The biggest myth in American politics is that Joe Trippi is running the Dean campaign.' "--New York Times, Dec. 13, 2003
"After spending nearly $40 million only to face devastating defeats in Iowa and New Hampshire, Howard Dean named a longtime friend of former Vice President Al Gore as his campaign chief on Wednesday, prompting the abrupt resignation of his campaign manager, Joe Trippi."--New York Times, Jan. 29, 2004
What Would Howard Dean Do Without Experts?
"Howard Dean needs to win at least one primary in the next two weeks to keep from becoming political toast, political experts said Thursday."--FoxNews.com, Jan. 29
Stories the Liberal Media Ignored
"Bush Wins NH GOP Primary"--headline, CNSNews.com, Jan. 28
Homophobia Alert
Tom Potter, former a police chief of Portland, Ore., is running for mayor. The Oregonian reports that after he left the Portland PD, Potter was up for a federal job, but he "withdrew his name after a Justice Department official said his open support of gay rights could pose problems."
We know what you're thinking: There goes that devil John Ashcroft, spreading bigotry again! Well, actually, Potter got the old heave-ho by the Clinton administration, when the Justice Department was being run by that old homophobe Janet Reno.
ACLU: We Favor Elections, Except When We Don't
Usually when a seat in the U.S. House becomes vacant, voters choose someone in a special election to serve the remainder of the congressional term. An exception occurred in 2002, when, late in the 106th Congress, the House expelled Rep. James Traficant of Ohio, after a federal jury convicted him of bribery, tax evasion and racketeering. Gov. Bob Taft chose not to hold a special election, the Ohio News Network reports, "because Traficant's interim replacement would have served only a minimal time, about five weeks, before the next election."
The American Civil Liberties Union is suing, arguing that "the U.S. Constitution requires a special election any time there is a vacancy in congressional representation."
It's true that Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution states: "When vacancies happen in the Representation from any state, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies." On the other hand, presumably there are limits to a governor's obligation under this provision. If a congressman died on the day before the election, it would be absurd for the governor to call a special election.
Is five weeks too long to wait? We're not sure, but remember that this is the same ACLU that last year demanded California wait an extra five months before holding a constitutionally mandated election for governor.
Rank Political Opportunism
Numerous readers wrote in response to our item yesterday that mentioned Lt. Wesley Clark Jr., son of the deranged retired general and current presidential candidate. Our correspondents pointed out, correctly, that a lieutenant in the Army like the younger Clark is not of the same rank as a lieutenant in the Navy like John Kerry. That's true--and here, courtesy of the U.S. military's Web site, is a handy chart of military officer rankings; the left column shows the pay grade for each rank (the Air Force and Marines use the same ranks as the Army):
O1 Second Lieutenant Ensign
O2 First Lieutenant Lieutenant Junior Grade
O3 Captain Lieutenant
O4 Major Lieutenant Commander
O5 Lieutenant Colonel Commander
O6 Colonel Captain
O7 Brigadier General Rear Admiral Lower Half
O8 Major General Rear Admiral Upper Half
O9 Lieutenant General Vice Admiral
O10 General Admiral
According to the Barnes & Noble preview page for Douglas Brinkely's excellently timed book "Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War" (HarperCollins, January 2004), Kerry was a lieutenant junior grade. We haven't been able to find out if young Wesley was a first or second lieutenant, but if he was a first lieutenant, he and Kerry would have been of equivalent rank.
What's in a Name?
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer ("intelligent as a post!") marks the bicentennial of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's expedition by publishing an op-ed by one Robert J. Miller, a college professor from Portland, Ore., attacking the two explorers:
Lewis and Clark were military officers serving American empire and manifest destiny and they were the vanguard of American policies that ultimately robbed the indigenous peoples of nearly everything they possessed. . . .
The ultimate goal . . . of the Lewis and Clark Expedition was the subjugation of Indian property and commercial rights. . . . Lewis and Clark opened the road to the domination of Indian tribes. . . . The cultural, religious, family and governmental oppression that Indian people have suffered since the expedition is well documented. American Indians have obviously suffered the detrimental effects of "American empire."
Blah blah blah. This is standard academic cant, though Miller no doubt is patting himself on the back for being such a courageous dissident. What does make this article delightful, however, is the author's bio that appears at the bottom: "Robert J. Miller is associate professor of Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland."
Someone Better Untie Them So They Can Take Notes
"More Hispanics Bound for College"--headline, Houston Chronicle, Jan. 29
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How Long Did It Take Them to Sniff This Out?
"A Reason for Odor Found at Sewer Plant"--headline, Sand Mountain (Ala.) Reporter, Jan. 27
What Would We Do Without Etiquette Experts?
"Bad Manners Bemoaned by Etiquette Experts"--headline, Mercury (Tasmania, Australia), Jan. 29
What Would We Do Without Monkeys?
"Monkeys Show Males Think Hard About Sex--Really"--headline, Reuters, Jan. 28
Jailbait
LaShawn Pettus-Brown may not have been expecting to get lucky on the first date, but this is ridiculous. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports Pettus-Brown showed up at an Applebee's restaurant in Long Island, N.Y., to meet an unnamed young lady. Instead, he found policemen, who arrested him on charges that he defrauded the city of Cincinnati of $93,000 in a failed plan to renovate a theater.
According to the Enquirer, his date was "an inquisitive woman":
Pettus-Brown's life as a fugitive began to unravel when the woman decided to find out more about her prospective date by running his name through the Google Internet search engine.
A few mouse clicks later, she learned that Pettus-Brown was wanted for a lot more than dinner and a movie.
The Google search turned up an FBI warrant for Pettus-Brown's arrest in connection with the failed Empire Theater project in Over-the-Rhine. The woman, who has not been identified, contacted the FBI and told agents where he would be Friday night.
As of yesterday, Pettus-Brown was being held without bond in New York pending extradition to Ohio. There's no word on whether he asked for a second date. |
