Best of the Web Today - April 19, 2004
By JAMES TARANTO
William Hamas Harrison
"We will all die one day," Abdel Aziz Rantissi said last month. "Nothing will change. If by Apache or by cardiac arrest, I prefer Apache." He was referring to Israeli air force helicopters, and Saturday he got his wish. "Missiles fired from IAF helicopters slammed into his car not far from his home in central Gaza City on Saturday night," the Jerusalem Post reports.
Rantisi became leader of Hamas, the most vicious of the Palestinian Arab terrorist groups, after his predecessor, Ahmed Yassin, bit the dust last month. Like William Henry Harrison, Rantisi took office in March and died the following month, though Harrison actually was in office for a full month.
Rantisi was a pediatrician who practiced an innovative variety of physician-assisted suicide: sending bomb-laden young Arabs to blow themselves up, killing many Israelis in the process. An obituary in the Guardian, a left-wing British paper, describes him as "the man who loved the Palestinian children so much that he admitted openly that he was prepared to slaughter Israeli infants to guarantee the future of their Palestinian counterparts."
Israel may or may not love Palestinian children, but it does a better job than the Palestinian "leaders" of looking out for their welfare. "Israeli government sources said they had struck at the first available opportunity, but had to wait for weeks because Rantisi had surrounded himself with children," notes the Associated Press.
"Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip announced on Sunday that they have elected a successor to Abdel Aziz Rantisi, but declined to reveal his identity for "security considerations,' " reports the Jerusalem Post. "However, various sources in the Gaza Strip identified the new leader as Mahmoud Zahar, a veteran Hamas official." Now that word is out, we guess Zahar will have to start wearing a bag over his head to avoid detection.
You'd think everybody would be celebrating Rantisi's demise, seeing as how he wanted to die and Israel wanted him to stop murdering people. But no, the usual bed wetters issued their stock condemnations: "The British government has made it repeatedly clear that so-called 'targeted assassinations' of this kind are unlawful, unjustified and counter-productive," the Associated Press quotes Foreign Secretary Jack Straw as saying. Another AP dispatch quotes Javier Solana, the European Union's "foreign policy chief," as saying, "Israel has a right to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks, but actions of this type are not only unlawful, they are not conducive to lowering tension." Oh no, they're unlawful! Someone call the cops!
The Israel Defense Forces has a list of Hamas attacks since September 2000. There have been 425 of them, which killed 377 Israelis and wounded 2,076--the equivalent, if you adjust for population, to roughly 17,100 Americans killed and 94,000 injured. The death toll is the equivalent of nearly six Sept. 11s.
Independent Media Review Analysis has a useful backgrounder on Rantisi, which includes this quote, from April 9:
We say to the Muslim people of Iraqi, we are with you in you're struggle against the American terror and destruction, we are with you in your war in defense of Islam. We say to the fighter and commander Moqtada al-Sadr: Hamas stands by your side and blesses your Jihad (holy war) and wishes you with the help of God, that you will win and be victorious.
Since Rantisi was on the side of our enemy in Iraq, all Americans should celebrate this murderer's demise.
The Road to Damascus
"Khaled Mashaal, head of the Hamas political bureau, lashed out Sunday at the Arab countries for failing to support his movement, saying the entire Arab nation is at war with Israel and the US," the Jerusalem Post reports.
Hmmm, this guy is based in Damascus, which means Syria is harboring a terrorist organization whose leader asserts that Syria--which is part of "the entire Arab nation"--is at war with the U.S. Shouldn't we do something about this? Being moderate about such things, we're not suggesting the time is ripe for all-out regime change, but a missile delivered to Hamas headquarters would perhaps send a helpful message.
What Would We Do Without Studies?
"Study: Anti-Semitism linked to MidEast conflict"--headline, Jerusalem Post, April 18
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
A left-wing Israeli "human rights" group is accusing the Jewish state of "torture" at a facility where terrorists are incarcerated:
"After 10 days had passed, one of the interrogators was bothered by my stench and asked them to take me to shower. That was the first time they took me to shower. They did not give me soap," said a Palestinian complainant identified in court papers by his initials S.H. "During my 30 days in the installation, the interrogator sent me to shower three times."
The heart bleeds.
What Would U.S. Intelligence Do Without Experts?
"Experts: U.S. Intelligence Must Solve Core Flaws"--headline, Reuters, April 18
On the Defensive Again
Perhaps on the theory that the best offense is a good defense, John Kerry raised questions about his own patriotism in a Pittsburgh speech Friday, falsely accusing Republicans of attacking it. The Associated Press reports:
"I'm tired of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney and a bunch of people who went out of their way to avoid their chance to serve when they had the chance," the Massachusetts senator said. "I'm not going to listen to them talk to me about patriotism."
The truth be told, Republicans almost never question Democrats' patriotism. Even if there is reason to question it, to do so would look vicious and unseemly and would almost certainly backfire on the Republican politician who tried it.
Kerry knows this, which is why he (and many Democrats before him) is so eager to perpetuate the myth that Republicans are questioning his patriotism. But anyone who's paying attention knows it's not true, and as we've patiently tried to explain, to accuse someone of attacking your patriotism is to raise questions about it.
But Kerry's Pittsburgh statement is even more ludicrous. Not only does he falsely attack Rove and Cheney of attacking his patriotism; he actually does attack their patriotism, thereby showing himself to be as vicious and unseemly as the Republicans are not.
Kerry Defines Himself
Here's our favorite passage from John Kerry's interview yesterday on Tim Russert's "Meet the Press":
The Republican Party has spent $50 million in a matter of about seven weeks to distort my record, to completely mislead Americans about me and about my record. Now, we're in a position now to be able to respond and introduce myself to the country. I look forward to that. I look forward to Americans getting to know who I really am.
Let me give you an example. George Bush has no record to run on. He has a record to run away from. He can't come to a city and talk about creating jobs, because he hasn't created them. He's lost them. He can't come anywhere and talk about health care for all Americans, because he has no plan. He can't come and talk about keeping the promise to our children and our schools because he broke it and he doesn't fund it. He can't talk about cleaner air or cleaner water because he's going backwards on those policies.
Yadda yadda yadda. So Kerry's self-definition is "George Bush has no record to run on."
Kerry mentioned Vietnam five times. As it turns out, he served there. Russert played a clip from an earlier Kerry appearance on "Meet the Press," on April 18, 1971, then asked him about it:
Kerry: There are all kinds of atrocities and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free-fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used 50-caliber machine guns which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search-and-destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare. All of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions and all of this ordered as a matter of written established policy by the government of the United States from the top down. And I believe that the men who designed these, the men who designed the free-fire zone, the men who ordered us, the men who signed off the air raid strike areas, I think these men, by the letter of the law, the same letter of the law that tried Lieutenant Calley, are war criminals.
Russert: You committed atrocities.
Kerry: Where did all that dark hair go, Tim? That's a big question for me. You know, I thought a lot, for a long time, about that period of time, the things we said, and I think the word is a bad word. I think it's an inappropriate word. I mean, if you wanted to ask me have you ever made mistakes in your life, sure. I think some of the language that I used was a language that reflected an anger. It was honest, but it was in anger, it was a little bit excessive.
Russert: You used the word "war criminals."
Kerry: Well, let me just finish. Let me must finish. It was, I think, a reflection of the kind of times we found ourselves in and I don't like it when I hear it today. I don't like it, but I want you to notice that at the end, I wasn't talking about the soldiers and the soldiers' blame, and my great regret is, I hope no soldier--I mean, I think some soldiers were angry at me for that, and I understand that and I regret that, because I love them. But the words were honest but on the other hand, they were a little bit over the top. And I think that there were breaches of the Geneva Conventions. There were policies in place that were not acceptable according to the laws of warfare, and everybody knows that. I mean, books have chronicled that, so I'm not going to walk away from that. But I wish I had found a way to say it in a less abrasive way.
Accusing soldiers of war crimes is merely "a little bit over the top" and "abrasive"?
Kerry also repeated his claim that he had met with foreign leaders who've secretly endorsed him over President Bush:
Tim, what I said is true. I mean, you can go to New York City and you can be in a restaurant and you can meet a foreign leader. There are plenty of places to meet people without traveling abroad.
The Republican National Committee has a response with the hilarious headline "Kerry's Foreign Policy Playbook: Zagat."
Russert also asks Kerry if he will pledge not to seek re-election in 2008 should he become president and fail to meet his goals of creating 10 million new jobs and halving the deficit. His answer:
Well, it would depend on the circumstances. If I don't [succeed] because there's a war or something terrible happens, of course I'm not going to make that pledge.
So Kerry is acknowledging that economic performance can be disappointing if "there's a war on or something terrible happens." Imagine that.
Quick, Avert Your Gaze!--I
"Kerry Aims to Reveal Himself to Voters"--headline, Associated Press, April 17
Kerry 'Votes' for Low Taxes--at Least for Him
Massachusetts residents have the opportunity to cast a vote of sorts on taxes every year when they file their state income tax returns. The Bay State's top income tax rate used to be 5.85% but was lowered to 5.3%. For the past two years, taxpayers have had the option of paying either the old rate or the new one. Go figure: "Of 2,104,326 Massachusetts state returns filed by April 15, exactly 624 taxpayers had opted to pay at the higher rate," Carr notes. Kerry was one of the other 2,103,702.
The Roe Effect
"We're the first generation to be more pro-life than our parents," complains Laura Copp, an 18-year-old advocate for legal abortion, quoted in Newsweek:
"We have a big, big challenge," says Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt. . . . Last fall UCLA found that 55 percent of freshmen at more than 400 schools said abortion should be legal, down from 64 percent a decade earlier. In a February NEWSWEEK GENext Poll, only 3 percent of those 18 to 29 called abortion the most important issue America faces. Born long after the last back-alley abortion and raised under the pro-choice Clinton administration, the post-Roe set has learned to take legal abortion for granted. Some disagree with the abortion-rights movement entirely. "They just assumed we'd be on their side," says Boston College student Kelly Kroll, 21, a former president of American Collegians for Life.
Oh, those Newsweek reporters are so adorable. They're astonished that some people "disagree with the abortion-rights movement entirely" but it seems not to have occurred to them that one reason today's young adults are less pro-abortion is that abortion itself has thinned the population of those who favor it.
You Don't Say
"Teens and Alcohol Can Be a Deadly Combination"--headline, Jacksonville (Fla.) Times-Union, April 18
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quick, Avert Your Gaze!--II
"State Wants to Open Wildlands to Outdoor Lovers"--headline, Associated Press, April 18
By Contrast, We're Hopeful He'll Be OK
"NFL hopeful Lesnar Injured in Motorcycle Accident"--headline, Fanball.com, April 19
This Is Insensitive to the Handicapped!
"Tax Hospitals, Cripple Care"--headline, letter to the editor, Washington Post, April 18
Phillies Having Fillies
This is just a little bit odd. The Philadelphia Phillies are having a special "Mother's Appreciation Day" promotion, giving out pink baseball caps to those who attend the Phillies' home game against the Mets on Sunday, May 2. (Mother's Day is actually May 9, but the Phillies are on the road in Arizona that day.) The Phillies' Web site says the lids are available to "women 15 years and over."
Now, one might argue that including underage girls in this promotion is a celebration of teen pregnancy and illegitimacy. On the other side, perhaps this is too harshly moralistic. If a 15-year-old gets pregnant, it is usually because she has behaved irresponsibly, but we live in an imperfect world, and a child who has a child, deserves credit if she takes responsibility for the baby.
But in that case, why have an age limit at all?
Copyright © 2004 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
