From: Subject: WarLog: World War III by Jeff Jarvis Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 21:37:50 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0073_01C25F5B.A3930860"; type="text/html" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0073_01C25F5B.A3930860 Content-Type: text/html; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.buzzmachine.com/2001_11_01_crisis_archive.html WarLog: World War III by Jeff Jarvis
WarLog: World War III
War, Media, the Web & = Whatever=20 ... by Jeff Jarvis

Friday, November 30, 2001 - Link=20
The poll
- Some = write-ins so=20 far for the utterly meaningless poll (to the right) about = the Time=20 Person of the Year (see yesterday):
"To me it's a = shoo-in: the=20 passengers of Flight 93. --Thomas Nephew" ... New York = City police=20 and fire fighters ... Richard Gere ...

Memo to=20 journalists: Get the hell out of there
- MSNBC says = in a=20 crawl on its screen that the Taleban is trying to kidnap = foreign=20 journalists to use as bargaining chips. At the same time, = US=20 News reports that a car loaded with explosives was = stopped=20 outside the hotel used by journalists in Kabul. [via Drudge] Add to = this=20 yesterday's report that Mullah Omar offered a $50,000=20 bounty on the heads of journalists shot in = Afghanistan. And a=20 death toll of eight journalists so far. And a Canadian = journalist=20 kidnapped and still not found yet. A bad scene all = around.
Now,=20 add this conspiracy twist: The media connection. The = Taleban's=20 going after journalists there. The anthrax attacker went = after=20 them here. I'd call that a pattern, eh?
- British TV=20 correspondent wounded while reporting at "the=20 most dangerous place on earth" tells her story.=20

Mid-life mope:
- So the Beatles are half-dead.=20 I have white hair. I live in the suburbs. I have serious=20 conversations about accounting methods. And worst of all, = I=20 suddenly find I'm a hawk. I'm no longer a child of the = '60s. I'm=20 the remains of the '60s. And now, to add insult to insult, = the=20 economy is a mess so I have to choose between a = convertible and a=20 shrink.
- Rest in peace, George Harrison. You brought = enough of=20 it to the world when you lived.

The Portland=20 ruckus
- Here's complete coverage on Portland's = refusal to=20 interview foreigners from Oregonlive.com.
-=20 Portland takes it on the chin -- as well it should -- for = it=20 stance. The LA=20 Times quotes some email scolds sent to the city: =
"I am=20 appalled and embarrassed to be an Oregonian," wrote one = local man.=20 "You . . . have completely lost perspective and what = appears to be=20 any remnant of common sense."
And another: "We are = disgusted=20 and saddened. . . . We consider the city of Portland and = the state=20 of Oregon to be a haven for terrorists. We will = discontinue=20 traveling there as a company."

Ready, = aim...
-=20 OK, anti-anti-war bloggers, have at 'im. I missed this = from the Boston=20 Globe but found it via Victory = Coffee:=20 Columnist James Carrol argues that the war is not just and = that=20 we're basically a bunch of ignorant sluts for supporting = it=20 because we don't really know what's going on inside = Afghansitan and we don't understand the true context and = besides:=20 "This war is not 'just' because it was not necessary. It = may be=20 the only kind of force the behemoth Pentagon knows to = exercise,=20 but that doesn't make it 'just' either. The terrorist = attacks of=20 Sept. 11 could have been defined not as acts of war, but = as=20 crimes." He doesn't stop there, arguing that the = government=20 decided to blame anthrax on foreign terrorists (how about = blaming=20 logic, bub?) only so we'd get all fired up, a la Vietnam = and the=20 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution:

For a crucial moment, they effectively played the = role in=20 this war that the Gulf of Tonkin ''assault'' played in = the=20 Vietnam War, as sources of a war hysteria that = ''united'' the=20 nation around a mistake. In such a context, the more = doubt is=20 labeled disloyal, the more it grows. The more this war = is deemed=20 ''just,'' the more it seems wrong.

Poison
- A=20 plot to poison people in France with gas is broken up = with=20 arrests in Italy. Authorities also got a bin Laden code = book:=20
Turkey, or chicken =3D bomb
To be tired =3D to be = under police=20 surveillance
The town hall =3D prison
Get married = =3D to=20 escape or flee
Trousers =3D false identity papers =
Open a=20 shop, or restaurant =3D commit a terrorist attack =
Couscous =3D=20 nails (used in a bomb)
Poison =3D identity control =
A book =3D=20 false passport
- Something to keep you up at night: The = CIA= =20 Chemical/Biological/Radiological Incident Handbook. A = few=20 tips:

> If inside, and the incident is outside, stay = inside.=20 Turn off air conditioning, seal windows and doors with = plastic=20 tape....
> If radiological material is suspected, = remember to minimize exposure by minimizing time around=20 suspected site, maximizing distance from the site, and = trying to=20 place some shielding (e.g. buildings, vehicle, land = feature such=20 as a hill, etc.) between yourself and the site.... =
>=20 Proceed to a shower and thoroughly wash your body with = soap and=20 water. This needs to be accomplished within minutes. = Simply=20 flushing water over the body is not enough. You need to=20 aggressively scrub your skin and irrigate your eyes with = water.=20 In the case of biologicals, this is often sufficient to = avert=20 contact infection. If available, for suspected = biological and=20 chemical contamination the contaminated areas should = then be=20 washed with a 0.5-percent sodium hypochlorite solution, = allowing=20 a contact time of 10 to 15 minutes. To make a = 0.5-percent sodium=20 hypochlorite solution, take one part household bleach = such as=20 Clorox, and 10 parts water. Do not let this solution = contact=20 your eyes....
> Physical symptoms: Numerous = individuals=20 experiencing unexplained water-like blisters, wheals = (like bee=20 stings), pinpointed pupils, choking, respiratory = ailments and/or=20 rashes....
> Unexplained odors: Smells may range = from=20 fruity to flowery to sharp/pungent to = garlic/horseradish-like to=20 bitter almonds/peach kernels to new mown hay. It is = important to=20 note that the particular odor is completely out of = character=20 with its surroundings....

Franzen follies
- Ken=20 Layne on almost (almost) finishing his novel: "The = book is so=20 spectacular, I'm already working on my 'refuse to go on = Oprah'=20 speech."
- Speaking of Jonathan Franzen's hyperhyped = book, I=20 made mention of it in a post long ago. I was carrying my = copy in=20 my briefcase the day I escaped the black cloud of = terrorism at the=20 World Trade Center. It was not just covered in concrete = dust; it=20 was infused with concrete dust; every page opened and = coated. I=20 threw it away. I bought another. I have tried and tried to = pick it=20 up and finish it and finally decided I can't. It seems so=20 self-indulgent and irrelevant now. Think I'll sell it on=20 Amazon.

And more...
- Pak= News=20 says that Pakistani law-enforcement officials are = delighted that=20 the deadly prison riot and other fighting in Afghanistan = is=20 cleaning up their list of most wanted Pakistani = terrorists.
-=20 Debka says Arafat = thumbs his=20 nose at America's peace efforts: "Arafat has a long and = cynical=20 history of making American diplomats laughing-stocks at = the=20 expense of Israeli lives. The better he succeeds, the = closer he=20 comes to attaining his ambition of challenging Osama bin = Laden and=20 Mullah Omar as hero of the Arab and Muslim world. His way = of=20 bidding for popularity in the Arab arena is to escalate = his=20 anti-Israeli terror war in time with the US anti-terror = battles in=20 Kandahar. Even the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and the = extremist=20 Lebanese Hizballah chief Hassan Nasrallah are wary about = directly=20 affronting America, but not Arafat."
- Washington Post = has the=20 story of a top-level=20 Taleban defector who says he spied for us: "There = wasn't=20 anybody who had power over Osama," Khaksar said. "He did = whatever=20 he wanted."

. .=20 .

Thursday, November 29, 2001 - Link=20
Person of the Year, this = year, of=20 all years...
- So who will Time's Person of the = Year be?=20 You can expect the usual controversy: Will the bad guy be = the guy?=20 Would they consider bin Laden? Yes, they'll consider him. = Time's=20 managing editor said=20 so today. Sometimes, Time does pick the bad guy for = impact:=20 because that guy had the most impact on the year and = because the=20 story has impact itself. But they've played that card = before. So=20 I'll bet they won't do that this year. Back when I worked = at the=20 company, I remember that they really did take great care = to=20 consider all the candidates and the reasons for each one; = it's=20 quite a deliberative process. I was at People then and = when we=20 picked the 25 Most Intriguing, it was less deliberative = and more=20 of a long, loud lunch. (If I were there this year, I'd be = arguing=20 to break the formula and pick 25 American Heroes!) Anyway, = you=20 know that Christmas is coming when it's time to speculate = with=20 your friends on the Person of the Year and so we provide = that=20 service here on this interactive Internet: the = unscientific,=20 meaningless, but fun poll: Vote at the = right.

CIA=20 death
- The Times of India says our first = battlefield=20 casualty, the CIA's Mike Spann,=20 may have inadvertantly caused the prison uprising that = cost him=20 his life:=20

Even as the CIA saluted its slain colleague, the = first=20 American fatality in Afghanistan, "American hero" Johnny = =91Mike=92=20 Spann, who died in the prison revolt, British = journalists in=20 Mazar-i-Sharif have begun reporting that Spann was less = an=20 innocent victim than the one who allegedly provoked the = riot....=20
On Wednesday night, the BBC=92s authoritative = domestic=20 television programme Newsnight interviewed Oliver = August,=20 correspondent for The Times, London, in Mazar-i-Sharif, = who said=20 that Spann and his CIA colleague, Dave, were thought to = have set=20 off the violence by aggressively interrogating foreign = Taliban=20 prisoners and asking, "Why did you come to = Afghanistan?". August=20 said their questions were answered by one prisoner = jumping=20 forward and announcing, "We=92re here to kill = you".
The=20 Guardian=92s Mazar-i-Sharif correspondent said the CIA = "operatives=20 had apparently failed on entering the fort to observe = the first=20 rule of espionage: keep a low profile".
The Times=92s = August=20 said Spann subsequently pulled his gun and his CIA = colleague=20 shot three prisoners dead in cold blood before losing = control=20 over the situation.
Spann was then "kicked, beaten = and=20 bitten to death," the journalists said, in an account of = the=20 ferocity of the violence that lasted four days, leaving = more=20 than 500 people dead and the fort littered with "bodies, = shrapnel and shell casings".


How the buildings collapsed
- CBS<= /A>=20 says a miracle saved people at the Pentagon: "Even though = 125=20 people were killed in the Pentagon on Sept.11, there was = something=20 miraculous about that day. The plane obliterated the first = and=20 part of the second floor, but the third, fourth and fifth = floors=20 remained suspended in midair for 35 minutes. Hundreds of = people=20 escaped. How is that possible?... In an astonishing stroke = of=20 luck, the terrorists had hit the only section of the = Pentagon=20 designed to resist a terrorist attack."
- And engineers = find=20 what made 7=20 World Trade Center collapse hours after 1 and 2: = diesel fuel=20 stored for emergency generators: "Experts said no building = like=20 it, a modern, steel-reinforced high-rise, had ever = collapsed=20 because of an uncontrolled fire, and engineers have been = trying to=20 figure out exactly what happened and whether they should = be=20 worried about other buildings like it around the=20 country."

Civil rights? Maybe later
- I = keep=20 worrying that I should be worried about civil rights -- = but I'm=20 not. Same for most Americans. A Post/ABC=20 poll says: "Six in 10 agree with President Bush that = suspected=20 terrorists should be tried in special military tribunals = and not=20 in U.S. criminal courts... Seven in 10 Americans believe = the=20 government is doing enough to protect the civil rights of=20 suspected terrorists. An equally large majority believe = the=20 government is sufficiently guarding the rights of Arab = Americans=20 and American Muslims as well as noncitizens from Arab and = Muslim=20 countries."
- Via Lake = Effect, the official presidential=20 order on military tribunals for terrorists: "Having = fully=20 considered the magnitude of the potential deaths, = injuries, and=20 property destruction that would result from potential acts = of=20 terrorism against the United States, and the probability = that such=20 acts will occur, I have determined that an extraordinary = emergency=20 exists for national defense purposes, that this emergency=20 constitutes an urgent and compelling government interest, = and that=20 issuance of this order is necessary to meet the = emergency."
-=20 Bin Laden on trial tonight (on Court TV): Ti= mes=20 story.

And more...
- Pesky=20 anthrax spores won't sit still for investigators -- = they keep=20 floating into the air.

- Afghan=20 woman killed when airlifted humanitarian supplies drop on = her=20 house. [via Rantburg]

-=20 Turkey=20 would consider backing Iraq strikes under the right=20 circumstances.

- Geraldo in Kunduz: video.
=
-=20 Charlotte=20 Church, the kid singer with the eerie voice (but no = soul, I've=20 always said) complains that New Yorkers are self-absorbed = about=20 9/11. Harumph.

. .=20 .

Wednesday, November 28, 2001 - Link=20
- Times of London says bin = Laden is in=20 Tora=20 Bora caves: "Defence sources are increasingly sure = that bin=20 Laden is in the Tora Bora complex. 'We=92re now convinced = this is=20 where he is and where the 1,000 or so al-Qaeda fighters = with him=20 will make their last stand,' said one."
- A Times graphic=20 of the Tora Bora complex.
- A Times visit=20 to Tora Bora: "In their ten-year war against the = Mujahidin in=20 Afghanistan, the Russians never did strike a serious blow = at Tora=20 Bora. The place seemed as enduring as the rock from which = it was=20 carved. It is hardly surprising that it should endure as a = warrior=20 headquarters."
- The Telegraph= 's=20 Tora Bora tale.
- Just looked to register ToraBora.com. = I was=20 three days too late. Could have made a fortune when the = movie's=20 made.

- 13 bin Laden fighters reportedly flown to = Wake=20 Island, ready for tribunal.

- Scarey story (or = scare=20 story -- not sure) from Janes:=20 "Ominous news from Pakistan and Iran indicate that at best = a viral=20 pandemic may be brewing among Afghan refugees, at worst = that=20 former Soviet biological weapons have possibly made their = first=20 appearance. In Pakistan, at least 75 people have been = diagnosed=20 ... with Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever in the largest = outbreak=20 of the disease ever recorded. Eight have already died. All = the=20 infected are refugees recently arrived from Afghanistan or = people=20 living close to the border."

- Piece of drek column = by=20 Robert Fisk in the Independent: "We=20 are the war criminals now." He says that the Afghans = killing=20 each other is our fault. It would be nice if we were ready = with a=20 sane government and an international terrorist babysitting = force=20 but we're not and they're murdering each other and we = can't stop=20 them. So tough. Our goal is to stop them from killing us. = If we=20 can stop them from killing each other, that's merely a = fringe=20 benefit. He says we've gone mad. No, we're trying to stop = the=20 madmen. And in the final analysis, it is their country: = They=20 either can or cannot be civilized.
- Fisk should at = least=20 concede that getting rid of the Taleban is moral progress: = Horrors=20 from the BBC.

- The government's buying enough = smal= lpox=20 vaccine to protect 286 million -- all of us ... but = not until=20 the end of next year. Keep fingers crossed. Inhale now and = hold=20 it.

- You don't hate us, you really don't hate us: = A new Pew=20 survey says the public is thinking a lot higher of the = media=20 post 9/11: "Almost two-thirds now say those in the news = business=20 stand up for America and help protect democracy, says the = poll=20 released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center for the = People &=20 the Press. These are the highest levels on those measures = in the=20 center's 15 years of polling on the news industry. Fewer = than half=20 felt that way before the attacks."

- Our first = American=20 battlefield casualty: CIA agent and ex-Marine Michael = Spann from=20 Alabama. From his home-state=20 newspaper (before his death was confirmed).
- I was = just=20 justly scolded in email: There is no such thing as an = ex-Marine.=20 Yes, sir! Semper fi.

- Arrest of a suspect in = Germany; he's=20 said to have funded the flight training of one of the = hijackers.=20 German=20 version at Netzeitung. English=20 at BBC [via Layne].

- = News=20 organizations -- BBC, AP, Reuters, Washington Post -- pulling=20 out of Afghanistan following death of Swedish = cameraman. Can't=20 blame them. The news is vital but right now it's not worth = more=20 lives.

- God Bless America: Below,=20 I wrote a screed on fundamentalism vs. modernity (read:=20 inflexibility vs. flexibility). Now comes a survey=20 of American religious behavior that finds -- to the = research=20 firm's surprise, but not mine -- that after 9/11, American = are=20 less -- less -- likely to believe that "there are moral = truths=20 that are absolute, meaning that those moral truths or = principles=20 do not change according to the circumstances." That is, = Americans=20 recognize the dangers of fundamentalism; Americans are = flexible=20 and open and tolerant and civilized. Americans are also, I = think,=20 ready to kick bin Laden's ass and willing to give up a few = absolute moral truths along the way... [via Relapsed=20 Catholic]

- The tale of a secular=20 Muslim in England, Sarfraz Manzoor:
"Bruce = Springsteen=20 gave me the promise of America. With it came the civil = rights=20 movement, the speeches of Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, = Emmett=20 Till and Public Enemy. I felt that I was on the same side = as those=20 who marched in Selma and Montgomery. I found it easier to = be a=20 black American by empathy than to be British.... [America] = represented a broader sense of identity. To my father, = this=20 adoration of Americana was confirmation of his worst = fears. The=20 Faustian pact of coming to Britain had played out: the = souls of=20 his children had been robbed by the west. Even years later = he=20 would express regret he had ever come."
After 9/11, he = returns=20 to his British hometown to meet young Muslim students, who = are=20 appalled at his secular life: "Just because I listened to = Bruce=20 Springsteen and read Philip Roth and watched Woody Allen = did not=20 mean I was 'denying' anything," he tells them. "I just = chose to=20 expose myself to a broader set of influences than some of = the=20 people I grew up with. I told my class that they couldn't = box=20 people up so neatly. Islam is about tolerance, I added=20 weakly."

- The Christian=20 Science Monitor says Congress is getting ready to = fight Bush=20 about the license he has taken regarding civil rights and = war=20 tribunals and such. But the Monitor also starts with the = important=20 caveat: "If history is any guide, wartime Congresses are = usually=20 irrelevant. They may thunder and roar, but in the end, the = president decides the conduct of a war - including = curtailing=20 cherished liberties when deemed necessary."

- An = Afghan=20 woman general says education, not=20 burkas, are the real issue for Afghan women.
. .=20 .

Tuesday, November 27, 2001 - Link=20
- OK, more God: A provocative = and=20 smart column by Thomas=20 L. Friedman in today's NY Times says that fundamentalism=20 as the real enemy in this war:

If 9/11 was indeed the onset of World War III, we = have to=20 understand what this war is about. We're not fighting to = eradicate "terrorism." Terrorism is just a tool. We're = fighting=20 to defeat an ideology: religious totalitarianism. World = War II=20 and the cold war were fought to defeat secular = totalitarianism =97=20 Nazism and Communism =97 and World War III is a battle = against=20 religious totalitarianism, a view of the world that my = faith=20 must reign supreme and can be affirmed and held = passionately=20 only if all others are negated. That's bin Ladenism. But = unlike=20 Nazism, religious totalitarianism can't be fought by = armies=20 alone. It has to be fought in schools, mosques, churches = and=20 synagogues, and can be defeated only with the help of = imams,=20 rabbis and priests....
The future of the world may = well be=20 decided by how we fight this war. Can Islam, = Christianity and=20 Judaism know that God speaks Arabic on Fridays, Hebrew = on=20 Saturdays and Latin on Sundays, and that he welcomes = different=20 human beings approaching him through their own history, = out of=20 their language and cultural heritage?...
We patronize = Islam,=20 and mislead ourselves, by repeating the mantra that = Islam is a=20 faith with no serious problems accepting the secular = West,=20 modernity and pluralism, and the only problem is a few = bin=20 Ladens. Although there is a deep moral impulse in Islam = for=20 justice, charity and compassion, Islam has not developed = a=20 dominant religious philosophy that allows equal = recognition of=20 alternative faith communities.

- I don't intend to go off on a religious bent but = here's=20 another question: Is 9/11 leading to more religious = seeking or=20 not? The NY Times said the other day that worship=20 attendance is returning to its pre-9/11 norm, quoting = random=20 clergy and the editor of the Gallup poll, and a research = firm that=20 tracks "13 key measures of religiosity." On the other = hand, we=20 have the random clergy quoted below=20 saying attendance -- and talk of religion -- are up. = Today, the NY = Post=20 reports that Warner Music is thanking the heavens that it = bought a=20 religious music label because it's going gangbusters after = 9/11;=20 mainstream music is off 2 percent but religious music is = up 11=20 percent. Bottom line: It will take time to tell what if = any impact=20 the terror and fear and sorrow and confusion of 9/11 will = have on=20 our collective spiritual life. Religion (as opposed to = one-time=20 worship attendance) is not an impulse buy, a sudden hunger = for a=20 chocolate; it's more like a vitamin deficiency (I know I'm = getting=20 a cold when I crave a second glass of orange juice); it's=20 subtle.

- British conservatives join with American=20 conservatives to push for an attack=20 on Iraq.

- The value of real reporting: I've = been=20 meaning to mention something for a few days, since Bj= oern=20 Staerk gave thanks for weblogs: "Some of my optimism = for the=20 future comes from knowing that, from this year on, every = major=20 conflict involving a nation connected to the web will have = tens,=20 or houndreds, or thousands of warblogs, covering it from = left,=20 right, inside, outside, ahead and behind. I don't like to = boast,=20 but I'm a bit proud of this: They tore down the World = Trade=20 Center, and we responded by creating something new. They = attacked=20 us with ignorance, we replied with curiosity and informed=20 criticism."
I don't disagree -- and I've written my own = odes to=20 blogdom (see This=20 Wonderful Web). But what I've been meaning to add is = that it's=20 very important for our society of bloggers to remember = that while=20 we try to add perspective to the news, we would have = nothing to=20 say if there were not real reporters and photographers out = there=20 bringing in the real news -- and risking their lives in=20 Afghanistan to do it. I'm moved to say this because a Swedish=20 journalist's death brings the toll to eight. The media = suffer=20 many attacks -- willingly; comes with the turf -- but we = all and=20 especially we on the Web need to be grateful for the = courage of=20 the reporters who fill ouf free press and free Internet = with the=20 news.

- Amazing=20 efforts to save that Swedish journalist via satellite = phone:=20 "Cradling the wounded cameraman in his lap, Bo Liden = frantically=20 telephoned his wife, a doctor, to ask her for advice on = how to=20 save his friend=92s life... She put them in touch with a=20 cardiologist in Helsingborg who calmly explained to the=20 journalists how to rip down curtains to make a compress to = stem=20 the bleeding and give cardiac massage." He died en route = to the=20 hospital.

- I went to the Here Is New = York gallery=20 -- filled with donated photos of 9/11 -- and picked up my = first=20 prints, images to remember. I can't recommend the gallery = highly=20 enough.

- Chomsky compers have at him: He wins an = award = from Dawn in=20 Islamabad, presented by the director of the "Sindh = Institute=20 of Urology and Transplantation" (insert punchline here). = This=20 after he gives a lecture and "accused the United States = and=20 Britain of being above the international law and using = 'unlawful=20 force' in their so-called fight against terrorism." More: = "Chomsky=20 says US couldn't convict Bin Laden." Enjoy.

- = Ken Layne has surely = given=20 himself a good case of carpel tunnel syndrome these last = 48 hours;=20 lots of good posts.

- 9/11 baby=20 boom coming: "While the trend may be strongest in New = York,=20 doctors say people nationwide seem to be shunning talk of = a world=20 gone wrong and pursuing pregnancy not just in spite of, = but=20 because of, the Sept. 11 attacks. 'It's the 'carpe diem' = mode,'=20 says Dr. Michael Silverstein, an obstetrician and = gynecologist at=20 NYU Medical Center in Manhattan. 'They're saying, 'Life's = too=20 short -- who knows what's down the road.' "

- Investigato= rs=20 look at chemical samples, other evidence from 40 sites in=20 Afghanistan to look for proof that bin Laden was building = weapons=20 of mass destruction.

- The Times says Michigan is = "inviting= "=20 Middle Eastern men to come in for interviews. This alleged = racial=20 profiling "controversy" about the "racial profiling" of = Middle=20 Eastern men has gone too far. There is nothing wrong with = law=20 enforcement talking to Middle Eastern men and they don't = need to=20 be "invited." If a neighbor of yours is murdered, it would = be=20 wrong -- illegal, immoral -- for you to refuse to talk to = the=20 police, to whine that it's not your fault you happen to = live next=20 to a victim and why should they bother you afterall. It's = your=20 duty as a citizen in a civilized world to help the police = and talk=20 to them whether or not you know anything. Well, 4,000 of = our=20 neighbors have been murdered and I want to cops to find = the=20 murderers. So they should be talking to Middle Eastern men = who may=20 have been the object of recruitment by bin Laden et al and = who may=20 have known something relevant -- or may not. What's the = harm in=20 talking to the police? Is it racial profiling to ask = Middle=20 Eastern men these questions? No. It's police work. Obvious = police=20 work. This is political correctness gone stupid.
- Worse=20 idiocy from out West.

. .=20 .

Monday, November 26, 2001 - Link=20
- Hendrik Hertzberg says in = today's New=20 Yorker that the big difference between this war and = others is=20 that there is no antiwar movement to speak of.

- = Amazing=20 transcript of a satellite phone call from a Ti= me=20 correspondent 200 yards from the fierce fighting in the = Afghan=20 jail: a mere dozen U.S. and British troops fighting = alongside the=20 Northern Alliance against 800 Taliban; dramatic rescues = from the=20 jail; explosions going off as he tells the tale.

- = A fine=20 Matt = Welch=20 column in Reason on 9/11's impact on the right: "Long = after=20 the brief 'national unity' has given way to the usual = political=20 squabbling, newly warmongering liberals and libertine=20 conservatives may remember how much sensible common ground = they=20 found after September 11. It will be harder than ever to = demonize=20 one-half of the electorate, and surprising new coalitions = may be=20 possible."

- Welcome back from Thanksgiving. I = didn't take=20 off from blogging, so there's plenty new below...

- = I was=20 thinking yesterday about religion and the war, because it = was=20 Sunday (and, of course, that's the day for it), because I = posted=20 the brief screed on fundamenatalism below,=20 and because I got some email on the topic.
I believe = that=20 maturity -- as a person or as a culture -- comes down to = knowing=20 how to be flexible, or call it open. To be a = fundamentalist --=20 religious or ideological -- is to be inflexible, dogmatic, = bound=20 and ruled by one's rules, unable to see or act beyond = them. We're=20 all inflexible when we're young; life's easier that way. = As we=20 begin to grow, we can still be inflexible -- dogmatic now = -- but=20 about haughtier topics; I was dogmatic (and not wrong) = about the=20 Vietnam war and paci= fism=20 and racism and all our '60s causes. But as I grew yet = older, the=20 causes faded from black to gray and the everyday issues I = faced,=20 especially in work but also in my communities, were never = so=20 obvious; life became a matter of compromise, of finding = peace, of=20 doing what was necessary to accomplish goals. Call that = politics,=20 fine; that flexibility is also a mark of maturity in = individuals,=20 a mark of modernity in cultures. It's what people and = communities=20 and countries need to do to live together. The key, of = course, is=20 to be able to compromise and bend and be open and flexible = without=20 losing one's moral compass, one's standards, one's soul -- = to know=20 what rules can and cannot be moved, but the rules do = change.=20 That's not fundamentalism.
I'm not good at this. I = struggle=20 with religion. I stayed away for 25 years and returned = because I=20 had kids and wanted to give them the same choice I had. I = left one=20 church when it proved to be a bastion of homophobia; I = left=20 another when it became a laboratory for hate; I landed at = my new,=20 small, open church and got=20 drafted into all manner of alien activities (committees, = bad bass=20 singing, even giving amatuerish summer sermons about = obvious=20 topics: evil = -- which=20 I would update now -- and the word). I'm=20 actually embarrassed about this. But just as I find = September 11=20 suddenly making me a patriot (complete with lapel pin), I = find=20 these events making me want to at least admit to religion = (though=20 not to proseletyze!) so I do not cede the turf to the=20 fundamentalists.
Last night, I got email from Ray = Eckhart about=20 all this and pointing me to a very good column=20 in the Washington Post by Henry Brinton, pastor of the = Fairfax, Va. = Presbyterian=20 Church, who's struggling with all this. Read on:

In response to an attack on our country that was = perpetrated=20 partly in the name of religion, people have been turning = to=20 religion in droves. Most worshipers are coming to = Fairfax=20 Presbyterian in search of hope and assurance and a = supportive=20 community as they struggle with what it means to live = with=20 constant tension. But they are also coming with some = more=20 complex concerns: Many are seeking solace in a faith = that=20 preaches forgiveness, for example, while expressing = their=20 conviction of the need for a punitive military response. = Members=20 of my congregation are talking more openly about their = faith,=20 asking questions about justice, the morality of violence = and the=20 role of the church in responding to conflict....
So, = much of=20 what my parishioners and I are doing now is trying to = find a=20 context for dealing with -- and responding to -- evil... = Exploring the morality of warfare has been the biggest = of these=20 challenges for me -- and the area in which my own = thinking has=20 changed the most as I try to guide my congregation. = Until Sept.=20 11, I would have described myself as a pacifist. I grew = up=20 inspired by the nonviolent teachings and strategies of = Mahatma=20 Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., and my preaching = consistently=20 opposed the use of violence. That is, until I learned = about the=20 passengers who downed the hijacked airplane in=20 Pennsylvania....
In an effort to bring greater = clarity to my=20 own thinking as the United States engages in war, I've = been=20 asking colleagues how they believe such notions fit = within their=20 understanding of theology. A divinity school classmate, = John=20 Lentz, who is now a pastor in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, = persuaded=20 me that "violence is always an immoral act." John = argues,=20 though, that there may be times when immorality requires = an=20 immoral response. That reminded me of what Martin Luther = wrote=20 480 years ago: "Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe = and=20 rejoice in Christ even more boldly, for he is victorious = over=20 sin, death, and the world." A realist, Luther believed = that=20 every one of us is destined to sin, no matter how hard = we try to=20 avoid it.
So I've begun articulating the notion that = a=20 faithful response to terrorism is to sin boldly, never=20 forgetting that violence is sinful, and that true = righteousness=20 lies beyond the realm of human effort: No matter how = many bombs=20 we drop or bullets we fire, international harmony is not = going=20 to be realized by military action. War cannot, by = itself, create=20 a lasting peace. In an imperfect world, I say, resisting = evil=20 through violence may sometimes be a necessary evil.=20


. .=20 .

Sunday, November 25, 2001 - Link=20
- Send in the Marines:=20 hundreds land.

- Ti= me=20 correspondent's Thanksgiving dinner with the Taliban: = "With a=20 few colleagues, I spent my Thanksgiving meal squatting on = the=20 floor of an Afghan passport office, talking to Taliban = fighters=20 about miracles and Judgement Day.... I leave thinking that = maybe=20 this evening wasn't very different from the original = Thanksgiving:=20 people from two warring cultures sharing a meal together = and=20 realizing, briefly, that we're not so different after=20 all."

- The Ames anthrax strain -- the one used in = every=20 attack -- was not as widely distributed as first thought, = says the=20 Washington=20 Post: "In following the trail, investigators have had = to face=20 the possibility that Ames may have slipped through an = informal=20 network of scientists to Iraq, which sought the strain = from a=20 British biodefense institute in 1988 but whose application = was=20 rejected because of concerns that it would be used to = manufacture=20 biological weapons."
- Leahy=20 says the anthrax letter sent to his office could have = killed=20 100,000 people.

- Calling John Wayne: The=20 Telegraph says bin Laden is now on horseback. The = touches of=20 cinematic drama are getting too good. The camp where he = last=20 allegedly hid out is called Tora Bora (Tora! Bora!). In = earlier=20 stories, he was reported to walk surrounded by a score of = tall=20 bodyguards. We come across the results of white board=20 brainstorming sessions (hey, let's put anthrax in = balloon!).=20

- From=20 Al-Ahram: "Don't hold your collective breath, = comrades.=20 There'll be no Vietnam in Afghanistan," says columnist = Hani=20 Shukrallah, "Kandahar is no Stalingrad.... So this = particular=20 party is, for all practical purposes, over. And we might = as well=20 admit it; it's been very neatly done." But don't get giddy = hawks;=20 this is no compliment. "So let's not fool ourselves. This = war was=20 never about 'eradicating terrorism,' " he says; it's about = trampling on rights and bolstering power and making money. = "On=20 both sides of the battle lines in this war of = civilisations,=20 however,," he conclused, "democracy is being put to the=20 slaughter."

- In the '90s, we called this = validation: The=20 Gree= ns=20 go to war: After an emotional appeal by Joschka Fischer, = the=20 German party votes to support troop deployment in our war. = Thus=20 the liberal/Green coalition and government avoid collapse = -- but=20 that's not why this is a big deal. It's a millenial thing: = If=20 Fischer, a major '60s radical, and if his Greens, the most = politically correct liberal party there is, can support = this war,=20 then we all us American children of the '60s should feel = OK about=20 turning into hawks lately.
- More on this from Thomas=20 Nephew, who actually speaks German (I barely fake it) = and=20 knows what's going on.
- The FAZ.net story in English.

-=20 Via Relapsed=20 Catholic, a Washington Post Charles=20 Krauthammer column (relevant to the post on religion, = below):=20 "Imagine if 19 murderous Christian fundamentalists = hijacked four=20 airplanes over Saudi Arabia and, in the name of God, = crashed them=20 into the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, destroying the = holy=20 Kaaba and killing thousands of innocent Muslim pilgrims. = Could=20 anyone doubt that the entire Christian world -- clergy and = theologians, leaders and lay folk -- would rise as one to = denounce=20 the act? Yankee Stadium could not hold the trainloads of = priests=20 and preachers, reverends and rectors -- why, even rabbis = would=20 demand entry -- that would descend upon a mass service of=20 atonement, shame, ostracism and excommunication. The pope = himself=20 would rend his garments at this blasphemous betrayal of = Christ.=20 And yet after Sept. 11, where were the Muslim theologians = and=20 clergy, the imams and mullahs, rising around the world to = declare=20 that Sept. 11 was a crime against Islam? Where were the = fatwas=20 against Osama bin Laden? The voices of high religious = authority=20 have been scandalously still."


. .=20 .

Saturday, November 24, 2001 - Link=20
- John=20 Cornwell in the Times of London on the dangers of=20 fundamentalism -- which, in my view, is the real enemy = here.=20 Quoting:

Since the end of the cold war, religious-inspired = terrorism=20 has replaced East-West antagonism to become a principal = threat=20 to the future of the planet. The barbarism of the = attacks in=20 America on September 11 raised further profound = questions about=20 the dark face of religion. When people commit barbarous = acts in=20 the name of God, it explodes the view that religion = makes for a=20 better world....
One international think tank =97 = RAND-St=20 Andrews Chronology of International Terrorism =97 claims = that=20 religious groups accounted for half of the world=92s 60 = terrorist=20 groups listed in the late 1990s, more than double the = proportion=20 at the beginning of the decade. Mainstream religions = have grown=20 markedly antagonistic towards western secularism, which = has been=20 linked in the religious mind with globalisation and = moral=20 relativism. Pope John Paul II has repeatedly blamed = secularism=20 for the decline of faith, the breakdown of families and = the mass=20 apostasy of the young. His words have been echoed by = monks,=20 imams and gurus the world over. There is more than a = grain of=20 truth in the charge. But sociologists of religion insist = that=20 young people in the West have not so much abandoned = religion as=20 relocated their sense of the sacred in caring for the=20 environment, the poor, the homeless. Young people have = retained=20 spiritual instincts but have ceased, according to many = surveys,=20 to receive religion and moral guidance from top down. = Most=20 religious leaders are neither impressed, nor assuaged, = by these=20 arguments. Rejected authority lies at the angry heart of = fundamentalism, prompting calls for a return to = =93basics=94 and=20 tensions with the moderate mainstream.

For a long time -- back to my days as a TV critic -- I = have had=20 a running fit about mainstream religion conceding the = pulpit of=20 popular culture, media, and the masses to the nuts of=20 fundamentalism. We do not see mainstream preachers on TV = in this=20 country; we see the edge of religion. Mainstream religion = sees TV=20 and the masses it represents as beneath them. Big mistake. =
When you get to the core of it, this war isn't just = about=20 America defending its way of life, it is about mainstream = (read:=20 sane) religion (both clergy and laity, Christian, Jewish, = Muslim)=20 defending no less than God against those who would murder = in His=20 name, those who would rob people of their rights in His = name,=20 those who would stifle religion in His name -- those who = would=20 give God a bad name. Those in the mainstream who see = religion as=20 tolerant and open and forgiving and full of grace and = humility=20 have to speak up -- or the meek shall lose the = earth.

- Observer:=20 The cat-and-rat game of chasing bin Laden: "It was to this = wrecked=20 compound that the American cruise missile came for him, = tipped off=20 to his presence, missing bin Laden by a matter of = hours.... 'He=20 arrived at night, it was after eight, he came in a big = convoy of=20 jeeps with 120 bodyguards. When he came into our camp he = was=20 completely surrounded by a wall of very tall men. They = were so=20 close together you could not see him at all - they were = arranged=20 so they could fire in three different directions.' = "

- Andrew=20 Sullivan on turkey.... on Thanksgiving amidst war: "In = this,=20 you have a truly American combination: the deployment of=20 extraordinary effort to achieve an ordinary existence. = This is=20 perhaps the singular achievement of this particular = civilisation.=20 And it is never better expressed than in the quiet = possibility of=20 a ritual family meal in a sleepy suburb, with Old Glory = fluttering=20 with promise and menace in the garden outside."

- = Next:=20 Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, say the Times=20 of London and the Guardian.

-=20 Because of anthrax, I'm getting my mail late and thus I = didn't get=20 my Economist and couldn't read the story on anthrax that = Little=20 Green Footballs found there about abandoned apparent = efforts=20 to build an anthrax=20 bomb, quoting:

What appeared to be a Russian rocket had been = disassembled,=20 and a canister labelled =93helium=94 had been left on = the worktop.=20 On the floor were multiple copies of documents about = anthrax=20 downloaded from the Internet, and details about the = American=20 army's vaccination plans for its troops. The number of = copies=20 suggests that seminars were also taking place there. =
One of=20 the downloaded documents featured a small picture of the = former=20 American defence secretary, William Cohen, holding a = five-pound=20 bag of sugar. It noted that he was doing this =93to show = the=20 amount of the biological weapon anthrax that could = destroy half=20 the population of Washington, DC.=94
On the floor was = a small=20 bag of white powder, which this correspondent decided = not to=20 inspect. It may have contained nothing more deadly than = icing=20 sugar, but that could be useful for experiments in how = to=20 scatter powder containing anthrax spores from a great = height=20 over a city, or to show students how to do this. The = living room=20 contained two boxes of gas masks and filters.
On a = desk was=20 a cassette box labelled =93Jihad=94, with the name of = Osama bin=20 Laden hand-written along the spine. Most chilling of = all,=20 however, were the mass of calculations and drawings in = felt pen=20 that filled up a white board of the sort used in = classrooms.=20 There were several designs for a long thin balloon, = something=20 like a weather balloon, with lines and arrows indicating = a=20 suggested height of 10km (33,000 feet). There was also a = sketch=20 of a jet fighter flying towards the balloon alongside = the words:=20 =93Your days are limited! Bang.=94 This, like the = documents, was=20 written in English.
Since UTN was run by one of = Pakistan's=20 top scientists, a man with close links to the Taliban = and, it is=20 said, close ideological affinities with Mr bin Laden, = the=20 circumstantial evidence points to only one conclusion. = Whoever=20 fled this house when the Taliban fell was working on a = plan to=20 build a helium-powered balloon bomb carrying anthrax. = Whether it=20 was detonated with a timer or shot down by a fighter, = the result=20 would have been the same: the showering of deadly = airborne=20 anthrax spores over an area as wide as half of New York = city or=20 Washington, DC.



- The strains=20 of anthrax in New York, Washington, and now = Connecticut are=20 the same. Add that to the item above. Ever more=20 diabolical.

- So Slobodan Milosevic is officially = indicted=20 for genocide. Now imagine the same scene with bin = Laden in the=20 defendant's chair. Hard to picture, eh? He'd be spouting = his faux=20 ideology; he would attract dangerous nuts; the U.S. would = insist=20 on trying him solo; the U.S. would then have to figure out = how to=20 carry out his sure sentence. All quite inconvenient. No = wonder=20 Rumself just wants him dead.

- Buy Nothing Day = seems=20 downright unpatriotic now. It was merely stupid before. = And the official = site=20 is borderline tasteless, tying together the monumental = tragedy of=20 Sept. 11 with their quasi crusade aimed at telling us how = (not) to=20 spend our own damned money: "A strange and wonderful thing = has=20 happened since September 11th - the anti-consumerism and = peace=20 movements have started to come together. Buy Nothing Day = 2001=20 could be our first opportunity to go global and make some=20 much-needed noise." That's what I call exploitation. But = being=20 (liberal?) blowhards, these people love an argu= ment,=20 even on their site, so I'm enjoying the negative comments=20 there:

I don't normally bother corresponding with terrorist=20 sympathisers, but here we go. I have never seen such a = pathetic,=20 cowardly and witless bunch as you lot. Wave a flower at = Osama,=20 I'm sure he'll stop (or perhaps it's the people risking = their=20 lives overseas who'll stop him, I'm not sure). Feel = deeply=20 ashamed.
Steve B, Norfolk UK
This has got to be = the=20 silliest idea of the new millenium. Capitalism is the = ultimate=20 freedom. Without the buying and selling of goods, there = would be=20 advances in civilization. Without economic activity, = there would=20 be no jobs. Without jobs, there would be no money for = education=20 - illiteracy would dominate. Without education, there = would be=20 no advances in medicine nad therefore disease would be = rampant=20 and life expectancy would continually drop. Gee, sounds = like=20 current conditions in Afghanistan, doesn't it. Maybe = after the=20 US finishes liberating the Afghan people, the Afghans = can=20 receive the greatest freedom of them all - capitalism. =
jnc,=20 thornwood
The BND is a silly idea, particularly in = light of=20 the events of September 11. Within the past two months,=20 thousands of Americans have lost their lives at the = hands of=20 terrorists. The American economy has stagnated. The = president of=20 the United States requests that America purchase more = goods and=20 services to boost the economy. To suggest that this is a = bad=20 idea is normative, value laden judgement that defies = logic- no=20 matter how cold that logic might be. Perhaps it would be = helpful=20 if some of the Liberal writers here had more knowledge = of how a=20 sustainable economy works. Yes, president Bush wants you = to buy.=20 No, this is not a bad thing. At best, in such a context, = BND is=20 in poor taste. A quarter pounder with cheese please. =
Derek=20 Meester, Ottawa

As for me, we're spending less this year on fellow = grownups not=20 because of any idiot ideology but because we're just = depressed and=20 don't feel like malling. But we're determined, as most = Americans=20 are, to give our kids a great Christmas. I feel a little = guilty=20 but what I buy is by choice, my freedom, after all. I will = always=20 remember the day I first came out of East Berlin -- = parched in the=20 summer sun, having had nothing but warm, flat commie cola = -- and=20 the happiest site I could imagine was a Coke sign. It's = not=20 liberalism to tell me what I should not buy -- or watch or = say or=20 read; it's just fundamentalism of another flavor. This is = what we=20 are fighting against.

. .=20 .

Friday, November 23, 2001 - Link=20
- Der Spiegel says (if I'm = translating=20 correctly -- always doubtful) that actor and playwright = Israel=20 Horovitz is premiering a "supercurrent" piece of theater = in=20 Dresden on Dec. 8: Three=20 Weeks after Paradise -- a Voice from New York = City. I=20 can't find a thing about this in English, oddly, except these=20 notes from Horovitz regarding his September 11th: = "Oliver, my=20 youngest son, was in music class at Stuyvesant High = School, just=20 across the road from the WTC, throughout the attack and = ensuing=20 catastrophe. He watched the towers fall, all of it. Like = many NYC=20 kids, he saw too much. Hannah, Oliver's twin sister, was = in class=20 in LaGuardia High School, uptown. A classmate of Hannah's = got a=20 cell-phone call from her mother, who worked on the upper = floors on=20 the North Tower. 'Thank God you're alright!' cried the = young girl.=20 'I'm not,' wept the mother. 'I'm calling to say goodbye.' = Our=20 children are not in Kansas, anymore. They have been jerked = from=20 innocence to the worst kind of Experience." Spiegel says = Horovitz'=20 play about Sept. 11 -- a monologue -- begins: "It is gone. = So long=20 as I've been a New Yorker, It was there, but now it is = gone." He's=20 not referring to the World Trade Centers, but to the = paradise New=20 York was for him. As his children watched the catastrophe = envelop=20 their lives, he and his wife sat in a sunny kitchen, = enjoying the=20 last seconds of that paradise. The CD=20 is already being produced and Spiegel says it it headed = here in=20 time for Christmas.
I'm of two minds about this speed = (just as=20 I am about the talk of observation platforms and = memorials,=20 below). On the one hand, I know it's too soon for art to = bring=20 perspective to these wounds; they are still bleeding. So I = am=20 relieved that I have not heard of movies-of-the-week in = production=20 (though maybe that's just because I'm too busy ready about = war to=20 read Variety); I'm similarly relieved not to see too many = instant=20 books in the bookstores. Too soon, I keep repeating. On = the other=20 hand, I crave other views and other experiences of the = tragedy --=20 thus this weblog; I cannot get away from the story, I fear = leaving=20 it. So the truth is, I would buy those books. I would be = first in=20 line to buy a ticket to Horovitz' play, if it were = here.

-=20 The latest = Rossi=20 Rant: She writes about an old friend, Wolf, who moved = from NY=20 to LA and came back to visit... Ground Zero. "Wolf always = had,=20 well, a little too much edge. Let's just say he was the = one guy I=20 knew who got PMS ... a lot. But he wasn't like that last = night.=20
He was sweeter and softer. As we all are, I suppose. = I've=20 always been an angry woman, well except for the time in my = life=20 when I was an angry girl and then before that, an angry = baby.=20 Could be a past life thing, or I just inherited the = angry-as-hell=20 gene, but damn, I've had a fire brewing. I assumed after = the=20 towers went down that I'd be the poster child for rage. = ... and=20 ... yeah, some of that came, but really ... I don't feel = so angry=20 anymore. Maybe it's because I've now seen firsthand what = anger can=20 do."
She is good, this Rossi. I don't know a thing = about her;=20 what little there was on her site is gone. She's a caterer = by day=20 but she should give up that day job and write.

- = The online=20 editor at Arab News discovers the wonders of web=20 interactivity. He gets hatemail; he responds; dialogue = ensues:=20 "Once I had responded thoughtfully to some of the more = emotional=20 and critical e-mails, I was amazed at what followed. The = writers=20 toned down their rhetoric; they were no longer abusive and = ideas=20 began to circulate and be exchanged."

- The Mirror = visits=20 Iraq,=20 says they expect bombs from us.

. .=20 .

Thursday, November 22, 2001 - Link=20
- New York is planning to = build an=20 observation platform over Ground Zero (NY=20 Post story). Something isn't right about this. I = thought about=20 going back to the site yesterday -- an act of Thanksgiving = reflection -- but decided not to; there is really nothing = to see=20 but destruction and the one time I did go near there the = parades=20 of camera-toting tourists jangled me. I'm not belittling = them; I=20 know why they want to go. I know why Rudy wants to bring = order to=20 the scene with the observation platform. But still, = there's a=20 sense of invasion of privacy about this. At the same time, = the WTC=20 leaseholder, Larry Silverstein, suggests building a river=20 memorial near the WTC with the fill from the rubble = and I=20 think that's an inspired idea. It will take time to decide = what is=20 right; we cannot rush this into = memory.

Thanksgiving=20 2001:
- Another story from Britain says that "sorrow=20 haunts gatherings for Thanksgiving." Still, they miss = the=20 point. Yes, there is sorrow and fear and anger this year. = Our=20 newspapers are still filled with the stories of families = robbed of=20 loved ones. My nightmare last night: corralling my family = to=20 safety when a nuke hits New York. Yes, there's sorrow, of = course,=20 there is. But that makes Thanksgiving all the more = meaningful this=20 year. As I've said since Sept. 11, I know precisely how = lucky I am=20 and how thankful I need to be. And we as a country know = how=20 thankful we are, how privileged and fortunate; that is why = we have=20 Thanksgiving every year and why we will celebrate it = especially=20 this year.

- Having said that, I'm going to spend = the day=20 with my family today and not blog; I'll forego the = addiction. I do=20 this robbing a few minutes every morning and evening at = the=20 kitchen counter. Now it's time to peel potatoes there=20 instead.

- OK, just one more. A=20 fine column from the Times of London on Blair's = optimism=20 coming to pass. In an eloquent speech after Sept. 11, = Blair said:=20 =93The memorial [to the victims of the terrorist attacks] = can and=20 should be greater than simply the punishment of the = guilty. Out of=20 the shadow of this evil, should emerge lasting good: = destruction=20 of the machinery of terrorism wherever it is found; hope = amongst=20 all nations of a new beginning where we seek to resolve=20 differences in a calm and ordered way; greater = understanding=20 between nations and between faiths; and above all justice = and=20 prosperity for the poor and dispossessed, so that people=20 everywhere can see the chance of a better future through = the hard=20 work and creative power of the free citizen, not the = violence and=20 savagery of the fanatic.=94 Anatole Kaletsky then = catalogues the=20 ways in which we can actually see the way to Blair's = vision coming=20 true: New means of cooperation to fight poverty; new paths = to=20 peace in the Middle East; new alliances among the = superpowers;=20 and, finally, the chance that we all can defeat not only = Osama bin=20 Laden -- to the relief of the Muslim world -- but also = terrorism.=20 Perhaps next year, all the world should celebrate=20 Thanksgiving.

- And if you still don't get = Thankskgiving,=20 here's the Guardian's=20 web guide to our quaint = tradition.

Otherwise:
- A=20 Brit exec sues his company for not letting him leave=20 traumatizing New York and return to Britain.
- = Just like=20 the Nazis, bin Laden leaves a paper=20 trail: quotations of chairman Osama, club notes for=20 extremists, primers on nukes found in abandoned HQ.
- = The bin=20 Ladens try to hire a London PR heavyweight "in a bid to = distance=20 itself from the errant terrorist."
- The Taliban = destroyed art=20 and antiquities, says the LA=20 Times: "There was something sadistic about the way two = Taliban=20 government ministers and their shock troops destroyed many = of=20 Afghanistan's precious works of art. They did it with = smiles on=20 their faces. They walked through the National Museum here = in the=20 capital last year, inspecting each object to determine = which ones=20 depicted living beings. And then they raised their axes = and=20 brought them down hard, smashing piece after piece of = Afghan=20 history into oblivion."
- Typically American gloating = (allowed=20 on Thanksgiving): The Guardian=20 got a record 50 million page views last month. Is that = all?=20
. .=20 .

Wednesday, November 21, 2001 - Link=20
- The latest anthrax=20 attacks -- far from Washington, the media, and the = mail -- are=20 calculated to scare us more, going after randon loners. =

-=20 The German aid workers tell the story of their frightening = and=20 strange captivity: eating worms, being put on display for = gawking=20 clerics who wanted to see their underwear... Times=20 version. Original S= tern=20 version (in German). Headline: "We want to return to=20 Kabul."

- We all saw the pictures of the mob -- and = I do=20 mean mob -- rushing an Afghan theater to see the first = movie there=20 in years. We've all seen the pictures of people playing = music=20 again and looking lustily at pictures of show biz stars. = But note=20 that this is not our pop culture they're craving (despite = the=20 constant accusation that our culture infects the world = like=20 smallpox). It's Indian movies they love and Bollywood's=20 ecstatic, says the Times of India. The first movie to = be=20 released there "is inspired by the 1999 hijacking of the = Indian=20 Airlines Boeing and the villain resembles Osama bin = Laden."
-=20 Rush on satellite=20 dishes.

- An amazing critical deconstruction of = the bin=20 Laden recruitment-cum-MTV video by Julia Magnet in the = Telegraph [via Little=20 Green Footballs}: "Osama bin Laden [beats] us at our = own media=20 game. With devilish cunning, he has plugged into the MTV=20 generation - and it's clear he knows how to reach us. I = have spent=20 all day humming militant Islamic songs. And I am a Jewish=20 twenty-something from New York."
- The Taliban says we = should=20 have forgotten=20 Sept. 11 by now. Meanwhile, Patrick=20 Ruffini takes Mickey=20 Kaus justly to task for predicting, on Sept. 12, that = the=20 media would have forgotten it by Thanksgiving (how = absurd): "Media=20 coverage of the 9/11 attack often emphasizes that it will = be a=20 'long time before America gets back to normal,' etc. The = opposite=20 is likely to be closer to the truth -- we'll get back to = normal=20 all too quickly, in keeping with the tendency (often = discussed in=20 this space) for the population to process information much = faster=20 than in former, less wired times. (Don't you feel as if = you've=20 lived about a month in the past two days?) I suspect the = story=20 will be off the evening news by Thanksgiving -- a denial, = in a=20 warped way, of the attackers' disruptive goal." HA to = both.
-=20 I'll see your $25 mil and raise you... The Taliban puts a = $50=20 million bounty = on Bush's head.
- At least Hitler has the guts to = shoot=20 himself. Bin Laden=20 orders his son and aides to off him if he's = trapped.

-=20 CBS=20 says the murdered journalists in Afghanistan had a big = story:=20 "Cutuli and Fuentes filed reports Monday about finding = what they=20 believed were capsules of deadly sarin nerve gas at an = abandoned=20 al-Qaida camp in the Jalalabad region. Fuentes's story = said he=20 discovered a cardboard box with Russian labeling that said = SARIN/V-Gas. His report said the box contained 300 vials = of a=20 yellowish liquid."
- WSJ=20 on murdered journalists: "The public's voracious appetite = for news=20 and a severe shortage of experienced war correspondents = have=20 proved, once again, a dangerous mixture."
- Times of = London edito= rial=20 on the journalists' deaths: "The readers of this = newspaper,=20 and all others which employ similar individuals, have = benefited=20 from the reportage that can only be delivered by those = willing to=20 place themselves in peril. It is a strange war indeed = where more=20 journalists seem to have been killed than, so far, either = American=20 or British soldiers. Seven reporters have been killed = inside=20 Afghanistan so far..."
- Reporters for Newsday=20 and Cox had close call.

- Maureen=20 Dowd on the schizophrenia that is our president and = our nation=20 and our generation, when you get right down to it: "Many = who came=20 of age during the Vietnam War, wincing at America's = overweening=20 military stance in the world, are now surprised to find = themselves=20 lustily rooting for the overwhelming display of force = against the=20 Taliban. Over the years the country's ethos had gone from = John=20 Wayne to Jerry Springer, from gunfighter nation to=20 anger-management nation, rugged frontier mentality to = designer=20 lifestyle mentality. Once we prided ourselves on being = strong and=20 silent. Then we got weak and chatty. And now we seem to be = evolving to strong and chatty. We are pulverizing our = enemies even=20 as we try to show them a little compassion, crushing our = foes even=20 as we try to understand and address some of their = grievances=20 against us. We are functioning holding opposing ideas, new = ones=20 every day."

- Time.com=20 offers three eyewitness reports from Afghan fronts: The=20 self-proclaimed mayor of Mazar-e Sharif "and his men have = the=20 city, but as they consolidated control, they massacred 100 = Pakistani Taliban fighters who were trying to = surrender--and then=20 watched as 12 of their own mullahs, on a peace mission to = the=20 Taliban resisters, were executed while clutching their = holy texts.=20 In retaliation, the Alliance soldiers then slaughtered the = rest of=20 the resisters."

- Quakers face dilemma on pacifism = in The=20 American Prospect [via WoodsLot]:=20 "Maurice Boyd, a longtime meeting member, stands to speak. = His=20 voice sounds a little unsteady. 'I find my Quaker peace = testimony=20 stretched to its limit right now.' Boyd's hands grip the = back of=20 the pew in front of him. 'Quakers were able to resist = joining the=20 cry for vengeance in the twentieth century,' he says. 'But = now=20 here is Osama bin Laden and people like him, people who = want to=20 destroy us and all that we hold dear.' He pauses and takes = a=20 breath. 'I'm in a crisis of the soul. I don't know how = much=20 further I can go along the road--the road of peaceful = resistance.=20 I can only ask you to hold me in the Light.' " I went to = Quaker=20 school and respect them greatly. I called myself a = pacifist for=20 most of my life. Now I call myself a form= er=20 pacifist (and I crassly sell Former=20 Pacifist T-shirts -- he= re).
-=20 Franklin=20 Graham is sticking by his view of Islam as evil [via = Relapsed=20 Catholic]: "It wasn't Methodists flying into those = buildings,=20 it wasn't Lutherans," said Graham. "It was an attack on = this=20 country by people of the Islamic faith." But I don't want = to argue=20 about that; too easy. I want to complain that Franklin = Graham and=20 his father are trotted out all the time as representatives = of=20 protestantism but the truth is that they are not = mainstream. Just=20 once, I want to see a Congregational minister from New = York (my=20 present brand) or a Presbyterian minister from = Philadelphia (just=20 so happens my sister is one) or a Methodist minister from=20 Washington make it onto TV to represent us in the = mainstream. More=20 on Islam Online.

- Washington Post: Military wants = homeland=20 defense command: "Any extensive use of federal troops = on U.S.=20 soil would come despite a traditional aversion to -- and = legal=20 limits on -- the use of military forces for domestic law=20 enforcement. But the Sept. 11 attacks and the Bush=20 administration's declared war on terrorism have blurred = the=20 distinction between foreign wars and domestic crimes and = prompted=20 a rethinking of the Pentagon's command structure and force = assignments."
- Swiss group wants to reconstruct the Buddha=20 statue blown up by the Taliban. The group, New7Wonders.org, says it=20 will work with the Afghanistan Museum in Bubendorf, = Switzerland,=20 first build a 3-D computer model and then build a 1:10 = study=20 model.
- Italian company Space Cannon wants to turn = the = sky=20 over the WTC into a light spectacle for Christmas (in=20 German).

. .=20 .

Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - Link=20
- Elie Wiesel said that you = cannot=20 bring theater to Auschwitz or Auschwitz to theater and I = finally=20 understood what that meant back when I was a TV critic = reviewing=20 "Winds of War," a gargantuan miniseries of WWII that tried = --=20 earnestly, I'll give them that -- to portray the horror of = the=20 Holocaust -- and, of course, it could not, no matter how = many=20 depictions of atrocity it piled, one upon on the next. = Sometimes,=20 art fails; reality is too big for it. Now, in present = tense, we=20 face the World Trade Center. recommends Leon = Wieseltier's essay in the New Republic (excerpted in = the NY=20 Times). It shows how critics and artists and architects = are trying=20 -- earnestly, I imagine -- to put the scene of the World = Trade=20 Center onto their canvases and how they are failing, even=20 offending in the effort. They try to ascribe poetry or = vision or=20 sense or even grace to what is, simply, ugly.
It is a = wonderful=20 piece: "You cannot leave ground zero as you leave other = ruins,=20 with philosophical reflections about the inevitability of = decay,=20 because what happened here was not decay, and there was = nothing=20 inevitable about it. You cannot leave ground zero as you = leave=20 other ruins, with the warm memory of nature growing over = history,=20 because here there is only history, and it is cold.... = These are=20 not the exotic and mysterious ruins of the past; these are = the=20 unexotic and unmysterious ruins of us....
"I cannot = locate the=20 balm in culture. It is just not my piety. I discovered = this when I=20 went into ground zero, in a red hard hat. I was not = prepared for=20 what I saw. I do not know how to express the quality of my = shock,=20 except to say that it banished culture completely from my = mind. I=20 fell dumb and stood there as if I had never read a book. = My=20 observations erased my memories. I was without allusions = and=20 without metaphors. Can a mind be naked? Then I was naked, = without=20 coverings. All I could do was look, and pray to see. The = metal was=20 the color of an infernal tarnish. I learned that yellow = smoke is=20 released when iron is cut. The hole in the sky was more = striking=20 than the hole in the ground. I watched the cranes scoop up = soil=20 from the pit, and then I grasped that it was not soil. = There was=20 no soil in this place. What they were moving was the = substance=20 that was formed out of the dissolution of everything and = everybody=20 that had been crushed and incinerated: a deathloam. There = were=20 spots of it on my boots. I shivered and moved away. And = when I=20 left it was not culture that was restored immediately to = my=20 consciousness. It was politics; policy; American = action."

-=20 The Telegraph says we'll have a somber=20 Thanksgiving: "Americais not celebrating the collapse = of the=20 Taliban. Caution from the White House, a worsening = recession,=20 lingering despair over September 11 and persistent fears = of=20 terrorism have set a sombre mood as Americans prepare for = the=20 Thanksgiving holiday." Well, sure. They also say it's the = media's=20 fault: "The lack of national cheerleading from the = American media=20 and their unremitting scaremongering and criticism has = left people=20 wondering: what next?" (First the media are accused of = jingoism,=20 then of not cheerleading -- all the while they face danger = at the=20 front line. Can't win.) So will this be a somber = Thanksigiving? Of=20 course, it will be. But I really believe that all across = America=20 this year, people will be rediscovering Thanksgiving as a = time to=20 be grateful for our families and our lives and good = fortune even=20 as we do fear what's next -- that makes the need to give = thanks=20 all the more urgent. So happy Thanksgiving.

- The = FT=20 wonders about the price=20 of gathering news in Afghanistan: "Seven journalists = killed=20 within eight days in Afghanistan. Their deaths illustrate = not just=20 the usual hazards of war reporting but also raise = agonising=20 questions of responsibility for media groups feeding the=20 round-the-clock news machine that now brings every big = conflict=20 into your living room."
- Little=20 Green Footballs put up a link to a fascinating = Atlantic=20 profile of Samuel=20 "Clash of Civilizations" Hungtington days ago but I = finally=20 managed to read it and recommend it, too. Huntington = describes=20 himself as a child of Reinhold Niebuhr, the theologian who = "believed that men are sufficiently wicked to require = tough=20 methods for the preservation of order. Huntington, an=20 Episcopalian, was attracted to what he describes as = Niebuhr's=20 'compelling combination of morality and practical = realism.' Though=20 an ardent Cold Warrior, Niebuhr never succumbed to moral=20 triumphalism, believing that history was more profoundly=20 characterized by irony than by progress. Even if the = United States=20 were to win the Cold War, Niebuhr wrote in 1952, this = outcome=20 might only cause the nation to overextend itself, = dissipating its=20 power in an excess of righteousness."
- Braver than I'd = be: The=20 day after four journalists are murdered in Afghanistan, a = Guardian=20 writer reports from the Taliban lines.
- Fly Osama=20 Airlines: how bin Laden took over Afghanistan's = airline for=20 his terrorism business.
- CIA's = hunt for bin Laden.
- Mirror=20 plays up reported Bush-Blair rift over role and number of = our=20 troops in Afghanistan.
- Via Denton: A striking = photo=20 essay: Twlight of=20 the Taliban.
- And here=20 is one amazing photo among many from Here is New = York.
-=20 Debunking the Clinton=20 speech myth: "On November 7, former President Bill = Clinton=20 gave a speech at Georgetown University on foreign policy = and=20 globalization in the wake of the terrorist attacks of = September=20 11. Within 24 hours, Clinton's words had been twisted into = the=20 nonsensical allegation that the former president had = blamed=20 slavery and America's treatment of Native Americans for = the=20 attacks. Even though this myth has been repeatedly = debunked by Bob=20 Somerby's Daily Howler, among others, it continues to = surface on=20 television, radio and op-ed pages. The history of how this = deception spread shows how newspaper editors and pundits = can=20 manufacture lasting stories about political opponents from = nothing=20 more than a few strokes of the pen."
. .=20 .

Monday, November 19, 2001 - Link=20
- The genuine Tourist=20 Guy surfaces. Via Ken Layne.=20 But the fun=20 continues.
- What is it with the Germans? Stern has an=20 obnoxious cover: S= top=20 This War! filled with celebrity antiwar idiocy = (celebrities=20 are out here but still in there). So singer Nina Hagen = (yes,=20 singers always set the best foreign policy) blathers about = her=20 "Afghan sisters" and another actress says, "The biggest = art is=20 peace." Gag me with a mad-cow-disease bratwurst. Now I = take a lot=20 of crap from a surprising number of Americans for doing = business=20 in and liking Germany -- but Stern could make me regret = that.=20 Sure, Germans lost the war to us but then we rebuilt their = country; we became their ally; we fought for them in the = cold war;=20 yet now too many of them abandon us, attack us, and don't = even=20 show the slightest shame that the attack on us was plotted = in=20 their backyard. Thank goodness Chancellor Schroeder had = the guts=20 to stand up to them. That makes me still like = Germany.
-=20 Christian Science Monitor=20 on what's next after Afghanistan: Trying to find and = destroy cells=20 all over the world; hard work. The story concludes: "The = best=20 outcome ... might be the establishment of a 'new = post-cold-war=20 deterrence,' in which no nation willingly harbors = terrorists, for=20 fear of US action."
- How to avoid pesky trials: Take=20 no prisoners, says Rumsfeld in the Times of = London.
-=20 Powell knocks=20 Israeli and Palestinian heads together. High = time.

- It=20 takes a country singer to tell the truth: Charlie Daniels = wasn't=20 going to be allowed to sing his new anti-Osama country = kickfest at=20 the CMT Country Music Awards benefit and so he refused to = appear.=20 That has been spreading around the Internet lately and = Snopes verifies the=20 veracity of it. Among the lyics:

This ain't no = rag it's=20 a flag
and we don't wear it on our heads
It's a = symbol of=20 the land
where the good guys live
are you listening = to what=20 I said...

We're gonna hunt you down
like a mad = dog=20 hound
and make you pay for the lives you stole
We're = all=20 through talking and messing around
and now it's time to = rock=20 and roll

These colors don't run
and we're = speaking as=20 one
when we say united we stand
If you mess with one = you=20 mess with us all
every boy, girl, woman and man =
... Charlie=20 Daniels site

- Two Reuters=20 journalists among the four feared dead in Afghan = ambush;=20 others are from Spain,=20 Italy.
- Matt=20 Welch: "I know media-bashing is fashionable this = season, but=20 let=92s not forget to thank the people brave enough to = cover the=20 dangerous situation inside Afghanistan."
- Islam=20 Online sees 9/11 as a PR opportunity for Islam. That's = unfairly stated but true nonetheless: In my community, = people are=20 eagerly going to lecutures to learn about Islam. That's a = good=20 thing; education always is. But at the same time, = including an=20 Iman in your public event is suddenly the = politically=20 correct thing to do -- and we're taking that too far. =
-=20 Newsmax: Muslim cleric warns=20 of extremists with nukes in the U.S. For what it's = worth...
-=20 Frontier=20 Post (Pakistani) says the British may pull their = special=20 forces out for now.
- CNN exec says, Let=20 reporters cry. If Dan Rather can, why can't = everyone?
- The=20 Mirror finds an anthrax=20 factory in Kabul. I'll still bet, until I see evidence = to the=20 contrary, that this was a foreign attack. More=20 from the Mirror.
- Nice point from Andrew = Sullivan this=20 morning on the new trilateralism, the arc from Washington = to=20 London to Moscow. (And that's one more good thing about = blogs: You=20 don't have to fill a column of type to make a point; good = writers=20 like Sullivan can cram a lot of IQ into just one = graph.)... "THE=20 ARC: Forget the broad coalition for action against al = Qaeda.=20 Forget the U.N., which has once again been shown to be = essentially=20 useless in a real crisis. Forget the E.U., which also = dissolves=20 into constituent parts at the first sign of gunfire. The = only real=20 alliance worth anything right now is a tripartite arc from = Washington through London to Moscow. In Afghanistan, = British and=20 American troops are jointly fighting the war. The Brits = have also=20 been a handy bridge for Washington with the other European = powers,=20 as well as an indispensable diplomatic tool. The Russians = for=20 their part have provided hard intelligence, accommodation = on=20 missile defense, and lower oil prices. In the coming = decade, I=20 predict a massive Western investment in oil exploration in = Russia=20 - a giant quid pro quo after September 11. And last = Friday, Tony=20 Blair joined two remaining dots by offering a new role for = Russia=20 within NATO. On Saturday, straight from Crawford, Putin = called=20 Blair to thank him. Putin's statement read: 'Moscow highly = esteems=20 the practical reaction of the British leadership to the = Russian=20 president's repeated suggestions on the need to alter the = mutual=20 relations between Russia and the Western alliance in = response to=20 new challenges.' So we have a new entente cordiale between = two old=20 imperial powers and the current hegemon. This arc might = come under=20 strain if Washington aims next for Iraq - and, so far, the = Brits=20 have expressed panic at the very idea. But I deeply doubt = that,=20 when the crunch comes, the Brits will fiercely protest an = Iraqi=20 extension of the war. Blair has too much invested in this = new=20 alliance to watch it unravel now. Same with Putin. He sees = the new=20 alliance as a way for Russia to leap forward in = international=20 relations. And Bush finally has two foreign leaders he can = trust.=20 Neither unilateralism nor multilateralism: this = trilateralism=20 could actually work, i.e. do more useful things than = employ=20 professional diplomats."

- I'm experimenting with = Pyra's=20 Pyrads and Google's Adwords. If you clicked through from = either,=20 bless you for increasing the overall clickrate of the=20 Internet.
. .=20 .

Sunday, November 18, 2001 - Link=20
- Bin Who? Taliban says it no = longer=20 controls bin Laden (or vice versa),but then, the Taliban = barely=20 controls its own bathroom movements days. Times=20 of London speculates Yemen's next. Who would take him? =
-=20 European authorities say they stopped chemical=20 attacks against U.S. embassies in Europe -- but more = are at=20 large.

. .=20 .

Saturday, November 17, 2001 - Link=20
Sunday Times of London:
-=20 Fascinating story of the new world of war: How=20 the US killed Al-Qaeda leaders by remote control -- = "The=20 Predator was providing a live battlefield television = picture back=20 to control rooms at the US Central Command in = Tampa..."
- The=20 battle in Mediastan:=20 Brit papers fight their own war over the war... "Life = under a=20 tabloid regime may at times be nasty, brutal and=20 short-paragraphed...." And in this fight, Andrew=20 Sullivan is the cluster bomb: "With amazing swiftness = and=20 surprising finality, the enemy caved in last week.... = Never before=20 in the field of human conflict have so many armchair = generals been=20 exposed as idiots in such a short period of time."The Guardian's=20 take.
- Intelligence officials estimate 70,000 (!) = trained sleepers=20 ready to attack us.... McVeigh's bomb=20 inspires binLaddites.... Flash-forward: If Pol=20 Pot's place can be a tourist resort, why not = Kabul?
- And=20 the Telegraph = says we don't want bin Laden alive. Probably true. How do = you put=20 him on trial? To quote: "President Bush has insisted all = along=20 that he wanted bin Laden 'dead or alive'. It is now clear = that he=20 wants him dead.... The Prime Minister evidently realises = that=20 'justice' for bin Laden can no longer mean months = listening to=20 lawyers in a courtroom in New York, the Hague, or anywhere = else.=20 It means a bullet in the back of the head, or immolation = in a cave=20 hit by a 'bunker-buster' bomb.... 'I love death as much as = you=20 love life', bin Laden told a Pakistani journalist who = interviewed=20 him last week. As the net closes around him, he may start = to=20 reconsider that judgment. He might now come to realise = that he can=20 inflict more damage on his enemies if, rather than dying = in some=20 vast blood-soaked conflagration, he decides to give = himself up.=20 The worst outcome for the West would be if bin Laden uses = one of=20 his televised appearances to tell the world that he wants = to be=20