Rip Van Winkle...

Our recent trip to New York reminded this writer of Washington Irving's story of Rip Van Winkle. I was born and raised in New York City, and lived in Morningside Heights for almost a decade during in the 70s & 80s. I was unprepared for the experience of spending four days in the Times Square Hilton some 20 years later. It was, indeed, like waking up from a long sleep (with the exception of the IATSE theatre strike, which seemed familiar). What is this luxury hotel doing here? Where are the sleazy strip clubs? Where are the drug dealers? Where are the muggers? Where did these Disney attractions, Madame Tussaud's, Ripley's Believe It Or Not and giant M&M stores selling stuffed M&M dolls come from? Where are the squeegee men, the swirling columns of newspapers and trash flying in the wind? Where are the broken windows, the litter, the oozing sidewalks, exploding manhole covers? Why does the New York Times building stand empty and abandoned? Why has P.J. Clarke's replaced O'Neal's Baloon across from Lincoln Center? Why can't we promenade around the grand staircase at the Metropolitan Opera anymore (since tables and chairs from the restaurant have filled half the landing)? Where have all the Greek coffee shops gone? How did these chain stores get into Manhattan? Why does the type of standing lamp we got at a tag sale cost $900 at ABC Carpets? Why is the Plaza Hotel closed? Who are all these Europeans laden with shopping bags? What is that strange "T" on the side of the taxicabs? How do these Metrocards work in the subway turnstiles? Even Norman Mailer had died...

Looking south from the 39th floor of our hotel towards the tip of Manhattan, and again during a meeting on the south side of the 53rd floor of the Empire State Building. one could not help but wonder:

"What happened to the World Trade Center?"

Gordon Brown Hearts America

From the British Prime Minister's Lord Mayor's Banquet Speech:

It is no secret that I am a life long admirer of America. I have no truck with anti-Americanism in Britain or elsewhere in Europe and I believe that our ties with America - founded on values we share - constitute our most important bilateral relationship. And it is good for Britain, for Europe and for the wider world that today France and Germany and the European Union are building stronger relationships with America.

The 20th century showed that when Europe and America are distant from one another, instability is greater; when partners for progress the world is stronger. And in the years ahead - notwithstanding the huge shifts in economic influence underway - I believe that Europe and America have the best chance for many decades to achieve historic progress ----

· working ever more closely together on the project of building a global society;

· and helping bring in all continents, including countries today outside the G8 and the UN Security Council, to give new purpose and direction to our international institutions.

And while no longer the mightiest militarily, or the largest economically, the United Kingdom has an important contribution to make. Just as London has become a global hub linking commerce, ideas and people from all over the world, so too our enduring values and our network of alliances, can help secure the changes we need.

In the Black...

While in New York, droppped by to see my distributor, Kino International, where I had the nice surprise of finding a royalty check waiting for me, in addition to a pleasant conversation with the proprietor, whom I had not seen in about a quarter-century. He was pleased to inform his visitor that the 25th anniversary DVD ofWho Shall Live and Who Shall Die is already in the black, with about 1000 units shipped. According to google, the DVD is carried by a surprising number of vendors. Enough to make one a believer in The Long Tail...

If some readers of this blog still don't have their own copy, you can order the DVD from Amazon.com, here: .

Happy Veterans Day!

From Wikipedia:

Veterans Day is an American holiday honoring military veterans. Both a federal holiday and a state holiday in all states, it is celebrated on the same day as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world, falling on November 11, the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. (Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice.)
The holiday is commonly misprinted as Veteran's Day or Veterans' Day in calendars and advertisements.

The Abandoned New York Times Building, November 11, 2007

Menu for the Social Dinner in Honor of His Excellency Nicolas Sarkozy President of the French Republic

From the Office of the First Lady:

Maine Lobster Bisque
Vermouth Cream
HDV Chardonnay “Carneros” 2004

Elysian Farm Lamb with Heirloom Tomato Fondue
Ragoût of Green Beans, Chanterelles and Caramelized Shallots
Sweet Potato Casserole
Dominus “Napa Valley” 2004

Salad of White and Green Asparagus
Peppercress and Mâche
White Balsamic Vinaigrette

La Fayette’s Legacy
Chandon “Rosé” n/v

And the guest list:

Guest List for the Social Dinner in Honor of His Excellency Nicolas Sarkozy President of the French Republic

November 6, 2007

The Honorable Bernard Accoyer, President of the National Assembly, French Republic

The Honorable Sheldon G. Adelson, Chairman of the Board, Las Vegas Sands Hotel

Dr. Miriam Adelson, Spouse of Mr. Sheldon G. Adelson

The Honorable Judith Ansley, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Regional Affairs, National Security Council

Mr. Stephen Ansley, Spouse of Mrs. Judith Ansley

Mr. Bruce Benson, President, Benson Mineral Group, Incorporated

Mrs. Marcy Benson, Spouse of Mr. Bruce Benson

Mr. Tom A. Bernstein, President, Chelsea Piers Management, Incorporated

The Honorable James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress

Mrs. Marjorie A. Billington, Spouse of Dr. James H. Billington

The Honorable Roy Blunt, United States Representative (R/Missouri)

Mrs. Abigail Perlman Blunt, Spouse of Congressman Roy Blunt

The Honorable Samuel W. Bodman, Secretary of Energy

Mrs. Diane Bodman, Spouse of Secretary Samuel W. Bodman

The Honorable Joshua Bolten, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff

The Honorable John B. Breaux, Former United States Senator (D/Louisiana)

Mrs. Lois Breaux, Spouse of Senator John B. Breaux

Justice Stephen G. Breyer, Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court

Dr. Joanna Breyer, Spouse of Justice Stephen G. Breyer

The Honorable Nancy G. Brinker, Chief of Protocol, Department of State

Mr. Eric Brinker, Son of Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker

The Honorable Aaron Broussard, President, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana

Mrs. Karen Broussard, Spouse of Mr. Aaron Broussard

Mr. Kenneth I. Chenault, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, American Express Company

Mrs. Kathryn Chenault, Spouse of Mr. Kenneth I. Chenault

The Honorable Richard Cheney, Vice President of the United States

The Honorable Lynne V. Cheney

Mr. Harlan R. Crow, Chairman and CEO, Crow Holdings

Mrs. Kathy Crow, Spouse of Mr. Harlan R. Crow

Her Excellency Rachida Dati, Minister of Justice, French Republic

Mr. Robert A. Day, Chairman, Trust Company of the West

Mrs. Kelly Day, Spouse of Mr. Robert A. Day

Mr. Xavier de Sarrau, Lawyer, French Republic

Mr. Philippe Douste-Blazy, Former Secretary of State, French Republic

Mr. Joey Durel, City-Parish President, Lafayette, Louisiana Consolidated Government

Mrs. Lynne Durel, Spouse of Mr. Joey Durel

Mr. John P. Ellis, Partner, Kerr Creek Partners

Mrs. Susan R. Smith Ellis, CEO, (Red)

Mrs. Gay Gaines, Former Regent of the Board of Directors of Mount Vernon

Mr. Stanley N. Gaines, Spouse of Mrs. Gay Gaines

The Honorable Edward Gillespie, Counselor to the President, Office of Communications

Mrs. Cathy Gillespie, Spouse of Mr. Edward Gillespie

The Honorable Paul Girod, Member of Parliament, French Republic

The Honorable Louis Giscard D'Estaing, Deputy of Puy-de-Dome, Chairman of the France-United States Friendship Group, French Republic

Mr. Thomas Glavine, Major League Baseball

Mrs. Christine Glavine, Spouse of Mr. Thomas Glavine

Mr. Mark Guzzetta, President, Gemstone Development Corporation

Ms. Leigh Martin, Guest of Mr. Mark Guzzetta

The Honorable Stephen J. Hadley, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, National Security Council

Mrs. Ann Hadley, Spouse of Mr. Stephen J. Hadley

The Honorable John Hager, Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia

Mrs. Margaret Hager, Spouse of Mr. John Hagar

Mr. Donald Hall, Sr., Chairman of the Board, Hallmark Card Incorporated

Mrs. Adele Hall, Spouse of Mr. Donald Hall, Sr.

Mr. Wayne Hughes, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Public Storage

Ms. Patricia Whitcraft, Guest of Mr. Wayne Hughes

The Honorable Yves Jego, Member of Parliament, French Republic

Mr. Olivier Knox, White House Correspondent, AFP

Dr. Jennifer Lewis, Spouse of Mr. Olivier Knox

Mrs. Doro Bush Koch

His Excellency Bernard Kouchner, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, French Republic

The Honorable Jon Kyl, United States Senator (R/Arizona)

Mrs. Caryll Kyl, Spouse of Senator Jon Kyl

Her Excellency Christine Lagarde, Minister of Economy, Finances, and Employment, French Republic

The Honorable Mary Landrieu, United States Senator (D/Louisiana)

Mr. Frank Snellings, Spouse of Senator Mary Landrieu

The Honorable Edward P. Lazear, Chairman, Council of Economic Advisors

Mrs. Vicky Lazear, Spouse of Mr. Edward P. Lazear

The Honorable Howard H. Leach, President, Leach Capital Corporation and Former Ambassador to France

Mrs. Gretchen Leach, Spouse of Mr. Howard H. Leach

Mr. Serge Lemoine, Chairman of the Orsay Museum, French Republic

The Honorable Stuart Levey, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Department of the Treasury

Mrs. Annette Levey, Spouse of Mr. Stuart Levey

His Excellency Jean-David Levitte, Diplomatic Advisor to the President, French Republic

Mr. Maurice Levy, French President of the French-American Business Council and Chairman CEO, Publicis Groupe

Mr. Henri Loyrette, Chairman of the Louvre Museum, French Republic

The Honorable Kevin Martin, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission

The Honorable Catherine Martin, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Communications for Policy Planning, Office of Communications

The Honorable Nadine Morano, Member of Parliament, French Republic

Mr. Samuel Palmisano, Chairman, President and CEO, IBM Corporation

Mrs. Missy Palmisano, Spouse of Mr. Samuel Palmisano

Ms. Laurence Parisot, Chairwoman of the French Business Confederation, French Republic

The Honorable Henry M. Paulson, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury, Department of the Treasury

Mrs. Wendy Paulson, Spouse of Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr.

Mr. Robert Pence, Pence Friedel Developers, Incorporated

Mrs. Suzy Pence, Spouse of Mr. Robert Pence

Mr. Ross Perot, Jr., Chairman of the Board, Perot Systems Corporation

Mrs. Sarah Perot, Spouse of Mr. Ross Perot, Jr.

The Honorable Mary E. Peters, Secretary of Transportation, Department of Transportation

Mr. Travis Matheson, White House Fellow, Department of Transportation and Guest of Secretary Mary E. Peters

Mr. William Plante, White House Correspondent, CBS

Ms. Robin Smith, Spouse of Mr. William Plante

Mr. James C. Rees, Executive Director, Historic Mount Vernon

Ms. Susan Magill, Guest of Mr. James C. Rees

The Honorable Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State, Department of State

Mr. Arthur J. Rothkopf, President Emeritus, Lafayette College and Senior Vice-President, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Mrs. Barbara Rothkopf, Spouse of Mr. Arthur J. Rothkopf

Mr. Leonard Sands, Founding Partner and Chairman, Alchemy Worldwide

Mrs. Corrine Sands, Spouse of Mr. Leonard Sands

His Excellency Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic

Mr. Thomas A Saunders III, President and CEO, Ivor & Co. LLC

Mrs. Jordan Saunders, Spouse of Mr. Thomas A Saunders III

Mr. Guy Savoy, Chef, French Republic

Mr. Dick Scarlett III, President and CEO, United Ban Corporation of Wyoming

The Honorable Maggie Scarlett, Spouse of Mr. Dick Scarlett III

Mr. Dwight C. Schar, President and CEO, NVR, Incorporated

Mrs. Martha Schar, Spouse of Mr. Dwight C. Schar

Mr. Harold C. Simmons, Chairman, Valhi Incorporated

Mrs. Annette Simmons, Spouse of Mr. Harold C. Simmons

The Honorable Alan K. Simpson, Former United States Senator (R/Wyoming)

Mrs. Ann S. Simpson, Spouse of Senator Alan K. Simpson

The Honorable Ike Skelton, United States Representative (D/Missouri)

Ms. Martha Child, Guest of Congressman Ike Skelton

Mr. Frederick W. Smith, Chairman and CEO, FedEx Corporation

Mrs. Diane Smith, Spouse of Mr. Frederick W. Smith

Mr. Dick Spangler, Director, National Gypsum Company

Mrs. Meredith Spangler, Spouse of Mr. Dick Spangler

The Honorable Craig Stapleton, United States Ambassador to France

Mrs. Debbie Stapleton, Spouse of Ambassador Craig Stapleton

Ms. Beatrice Stern, Antiquarian, French Republic

Ms. Virginia Stuller, Co-Chair of the 2007 Marquis de Lafayette Commemoration Committee

Mrs. Sharon Burdick, Guest of Ms. Virginia Stuller

The Honorable Billy Tauzin, President and CEO, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America

Mrs. Cecile Tauzin, Spouse of Mr. Billy Tauzin

His Excellency Pierre Vimont, Ambassador of the French Republic to the United States

Mrs. Jeanne Warner, Spouse of The Honorable John Warner, United States Senator (R/Virginia)

Dr. Kenneth Weinstein, CEO, Hudson Institute

Ms. Amy Kaufmann, Spouse of Dr. Kenneth Weinstein

Mr. Guy Wildenstein, French Republic

Her Excellency Rama Yade, Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs and Human Rights, French Republic

The Honorable Raul Yanes, Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary

Ms. Sara Hazelwood, Spouse of Mr. Raul Yanes

The Honorable Amy S. Zantzinger, Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary, White House Social Office

Banned Muslim League Leader Calls for Pakistan Revolt

Nawaz Sharif, exiled to Saudi Arabia by Musharraf, has called for revolution in Pakistan in an interview with Atul Aneja of The Hindu (India):

DUBAI: The former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, has spoken of the need for “a mass uprising” in Pakistan in the context of General Musharraf’s latest actions.

During the course of an exclusive telephonic interview to The Hindu on Monday, he predicted: “The opposition to [Gen. Musharraf’s move] is going to increase, it is going to pick up momentum in the coming days because this sort of ruthless action can never be acceptable to our civil society.”

Nevertheless, he acknowledged that “external forces” are going to play their part in shaping events in Pakistan. “I wish that the United States, which is hardening its stance since yesterday, declares very clearly that this [Gen. Musharraf’s action] is unacceptable and this must be reversed.”

Sarkozy to Celebrate Lafayette's 250th Birthday at Mount Vernon

Apparently M. le President is as big a Lafayette fan as Yours Truly,AFP reports:

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush rolls out the red carpet next week for French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, eager for their views on Iran's nuclear program and Russia.

The high-stakes week of diplomacy, which will also see Bush host Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, comes as Washington seeks more sanctions against Tehran and worries about the health of democratic reforms in Moscow.

Bush will host his French counterpart at the White House on Tuesday for an official dinner, then squire him on Wednesday to the Mount Vernon estate of the first US president, George Washington.

The two leaders were expected to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of the Marquis de Lafayette, the French soldier and diplomat who played a key role in the American revolution.

I wish they were visiting the homes of Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, as well, both friends of the French Enlightenment--fittingly, Monroe's townhouse serves today as the Arts Club of Washington. Of course, Lafayette lived at Mount Vernon, and there is a key to the Bastille in a glass case there, presented by the Marquis who liberated the prison...

James Kurth: Return Pakistan to India

From The American Interest:

While there were particular ethnic communities that served as loyal allies of imperial powers in imposing order upon disorderly cities and turbulent frontiers, there were also particular ethnic communities that always seemed to be in opposition to the imperial order, or, indeed, to any order other than their own peculiar one. The British called these “unruly peoples.” The most notorious of these unruly peoples—indeed, the British called them “ungovernable”—were the Pashtuns (then called the Pathans), who inhabited both the southern and eastern parts of Afghanistan and the Northwest Frontier Province of British India. And so the Pashtuns have remained, right down to the present day. We might now call them a rogue people.

They have been a rogue people at great cost to the rest of the world. The Pashtuns are virtually the only ethnic community in Afghanistan that supports the Taliban, and indeed virtually everyone in the Taliban is a Pashtun. It was, of course, the Taliban regime and therefore the Pashtun community that hosted and protected al-Qaeda before the American invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, and it is the Pashtun community in the Northwest Frontier Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan that hosts and protects al-Qaeda there today.

Like many close-knit ethnic or tribal communities, the Pashtuns have an intense sense of communal identity and almost no sense of an individual one. They also naturally have an intense sense of their enemies’ communal identities, including their collective guilt. It is impossible to deal with the Pashtuns as individuals, responding to calculations of individual benefits and costs. This is why, after more than five years, no one has stepped forward to turn in Osama bin Laden or Mullah Mohammed Omar (the leader of the Taliban), even though the United States has offered a $25 million reward for each. The only way to deal with the Pashtuns is the way they deal with themselves and with everyone else, as a community that is capable of both collective honor and guilt...

...With its vast Muslim population of 130 million, India has had ample and generally successful experience with the problem of maintaining law and order invoving an internal Muslim community. In its ongoing Islamist insurgency in Kashmir, India has also had ample and often painful experience with this problem—a sort of Indian “near abroad.” India certainly is a willing ally in a grand coalition against Islamist terrorists, so long as we do not insist on formally calling them an ally.

India’s biggest contribution could issue from any future disintegration of Pakistan. This state has always been an artificial and brittle one, and in many areas—most obviously, in the Northwest Frontier Province, the autonomous tribal areas, and, increasingly, in Baluchistan, as well—it is a failing one. With a strong Islamist presence in the country and even in the military, Pakistan could one day become an Islamist state already possessing nuclear weapons. An Islamist Pakistan, perhaps with al-Qaeda operating on its territory, would probably be the most dangerous state in the world, a rogue state in the fullest sense of the term.

If the United States should ever determine that this state had to be put to an end, India would be the best ally to help do it—to “crack the Paks”, as it were. The ruins of this artificial country would produce four or five separate ethnic provinces, each of which could be reconstructed and ordered by a new Indian Raj with a mixture of direct and indirect rule—in a way not unlike the British Raj that once ruled these very same provinces.

Fred Kaplan on Condoleeza Rice

News from Pakistan makes this article from Sunday's Washington Post Outlook section seem particularly timely:

Finally, there looms Iraq, where the only recent tactical successes have involved building up tribal warlords, not creating a beacon of democracy. This war has been Rice's war as much as anybody's in the administration. Long after her celebrity and charm have been forgotten, her epitaph will endure: She pursued democracy at the expense of stability, and achieved neither.

Kyrgystan's Clash of Civilizations

From Channel Four News (UK), this report on Islamist extremism in Kyrgyzstan. One of the producers, Alisher Saipov, was murdered in broad daylight in the town of Osh, after working on the segment.

Three Godfathers

Last night, someone I know and I watched John Wayne, John Wayne,Pedro Armendáriz, Harry Carey Jr., Ward Bond, and the John Ford stock company in 3 Godfathers. This 1948 spectacular is a real John Ford Western, combining a mythic plot (the Christmas Story); spectacular Western scenery, racial issues (Mexican v. Cowboy), the Law, and interestingly, John Wayne as a bank-robber leading a band of desperadoes. Ward Bond plays Sheriff Purlie Sweet, chasing him across the desert. Sort of like The Searchers, but with John Wayne as "Scar".

I saw a lot of John Ford movies at film school, but I never saw this one--and I don't know why. John Wayne plays a Bad Guy, albeit a "good Bad Guy." At times the film is almost surrealistic, when Wayne imagines his dead partners in crime come back to life. The ambiguity about good and bad, as well as the "happy ending" where Wayne seems to win the heart of the girl whose father's bank he robbed, seem to foreshadow the anti-heroes of the 1950s.

The plot is simple. Three bank robbers come across a dying woman in the desert. They promise to raise her baby. And then, they must make it back to civilization, rather than escape the law by slipping over the Mexican border. The classic Duty v. Desire conflict. One by one, the godfathers perish in the hot sand. Finally making it to town, John Wayne collapses after placing the baby on the bar of the saloon in "New Jerusalem." He doesn't die. Instead, he's reborn as an "honest man." Although the plot is different, the situation, as someone I know suggested, certainly looks like it may have inspired Three Men and a Baby. After all, John Ford is very popular in France...

Add it to your Netflix queue. Five Stars.

US Government Prosecuted Water Torture After WWII

Evan Wallach writes in today's Washington Post Outlook section:

The United States knows quite a bit about waterboarding. The U.S. government -- whether acting alone before domestic courts, commissions and courts-martial or as part of the world community -- has not only condemned the use of water torture but has severely punished those who applied it.

After World War II, we convicted several Japanese soldiers for waterboarding American and Allied prisoners of war. At the trial of his captors, then-Lt. Chase J. Nielsen, one of the 1942 Army Air Forces officers who flew in the Doolittle Raid and was captured by the Japanese, testified: "I was given several types of torture. . . . I was given what they call the water cure." He was asked what he felt when the Japanese soldiers poured the water. "Well, I felt more or less like I was drowning," he replied, "just gasping between life and death."

Nielsen's experience was not unique. Nor was the prosecution of his captors. After Japan surrendered, the United States organized and participated in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, generally called the Tokyo War Crimes Trials. Leading members of Japan's military and government elite were charged, among their many other crimes, with torturing Allied military personnel and civilians. The principal proof upon which their torture convictions were based was conduct that we would now call waterboarding.

And not just against the Japanese.

In 1983, federal prosecutors charged a Texas sheriff and three of his deputies with violating prisoners' civil rights by forcing confessions. The complaint alleged that the officers conspired to "subject prisoners to a suffocating water torture ordeal in order to coerce confessions. This generally included the placement of a towel over the nose and mouth of the prisoner and the pouring of water in the towel until the prisoner began to move, jerk, or otherwise indicate that he was suffocating and/or drowning."

The four defendants were convicted, and the sheriff was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

We know that U.S. military tribunals and U.S. judges have examined certain types of water-based interrogation and found that they constituted torture. That's a lesson worth learning. The study of law is, after all, largely the study of history. The law of war is no different. This history should be of value to those who seek to understand what the law is -- as well as what it ought to be.

Nikolaj Znaider Conquers Washington

At least, the concert-goers at the Kennedy Center's all-Beethoven program by the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Hungarian maestro Ivan Fisher last night. Znaider, an Israeli-Polish virtuoso from Denmark, played Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61 just brilliantly. He seemed to have a special relationship with concertmaster Nurit Bar-Josef, lots of meaningful glances that might have been some musical shorthand--but that looked an awful lot like flirting. He's taller by a head than maestro Fisher, himself a dynamic Hungarian, whose exhalations from exertion could be heard over the score, at least in our second-row seats. The house was almost full, Znaider got a standing ovation, and among the local celebrities in attendance was NPR Supreme Court diva Nina Totenberg. The rest of the program was grand, as well--Egmont and Coriolan overtures, followed by the reliably crowd-pleasing Symphony Number Five in C Minor, Op.67.

Da-da-da--dum!

Here's a link to a profile of Znaider in Strings Magazine.

Pakistan Declares Martial Law

According to Reuters.

Gary H. Johnson Reviews The Al Qaeda Reader

From The American Thinker:

In full, Raymond Ibrahim's text The Al Qaeda Reader provides the world of English-speakers many lessons that we may choose to learn or dismiss. Chief among these lessons is that in Islam there is no separation between Mosque and State. For years, since the fall of the Twin Towers, moderate Muslims have claimed their religion had been hijacked by fundamentalists, literalists, radicals, and extremists; and, now the West has been apprised of the twisted view of two of these hijackers.

Is this message of hate the literalist perspective of Islam laid bare for the world to see? And if it is, what does it teach the World of English-speakers about the Koran's content, intent, and merit? The fact is, all Muslims believe the Koran to be the literal, uncorrupted word of Allah, written in the celestial language of Arabic. Moving past the arrogance necessary to declare to the world that any language is that of God, what does this text teach us about the original words of the Islamic God? Has the God of Islam, Allah, demanded His followers to wage jihad on all infidels in a quest to force the entire planet to convert, pay alms, or die? And if the Koran is the literal, uncorrupted, Word and Warning of Allah; then, why would we, infidels, ever consider "Peaceful" a religion which promises our demise as sovereign states in one form or another, following obligatory genocidal purges, inquisitions, enslavements, indoctrination, trials of apostasy, and the death of the very idea of American Freedom, and the death of every value held as heroic in the West? For the West's concepts of equality, justice and freedom do not hold parallel with the Koran's or Sharia's view of the same.

In full, Raymond Ibrahim's release The Al Qaeda Reader is a necessary addition to the scholarship of jihad. The text begs the question: does the doctrine proclaimed by al Qaeda's leadership, now widely known among the world's Muslims, guarantee a state of perpetual war against the whole of humanity? And if so, what is the process of eradication of these elements from the Ulema consensus in order to defuse this ticking bomb of world-wide genocide?

You can buy the book from Amazon.com, here.

Protests Sweep Georgian Capital

From the BBC:

Thousands of protesters are on the streets of Georgia for a second day to demand the resignation of President Mikhail Saakashvili. Many of the protesters had camped overnight outside the parliament building in the capital, Tbilisi.

The crowd has swelled during the day, but has not yet matched the 50,000-strong crowd seen on Friday.

The protesters want an early election, accusing the president of leading a corrupt, authoritarian government.

The pro-Western Mr Saakashvili came to power in January 2004 following the peaceful "Rose revolution", which toppled President Eduard Shevardnadze.

The country is still struggling to recover from years of post-Soviet economic decay, instability and civil war."

Russian TV coverage, here via YouTube.

President Theodore Roosevelt Banned Water Torture 100 Years Ago

From Daniel A. Rezneck's article, "Roosevelt was right: Waterboarding wrong," on Politico.com:

But waterboarding was also a prime subject of controversy in Congress and in the U.S. more than 100 years ago.

The occasion was the Philippine insurrection, which began soon after the American victory in the Spanish-American War of 1898. It soon became clear that the American liberation of the Philippines from Spanish rule did not mean freedom for the Filipinos but annexation by the United States.

The Filipinos fought back savagely against the American occupation, committing many atrocities.

American soldiers responded with what was called the “water cure” or “Chinese water torture.” As described in a 1902 congressional hearing: “A man is thrown down on his back and three or four men sit on his arms and legs and hold him down, and either a gun barrel or a rifle barrel or a carbine barrel or a stick as big as a belaying pin ... is simply thrust into his jaws, ... and then water is poured onto his face, down his throat and nose, ... until the man gives some sign of giving in or becomes unconscious. ... His suffering must be that of a man who is drowning but who cannot drown.”

Edmund Morris, in the second volume of his brilliant biography of Theodore Roosevelt, recounts how a master politician took over the situation. Roosevelt met with his Cabinet and demanded a full briefing on the Philippine situation. Elihu Root, the secretary of war, reported that an officer accused of the water torture had been ordered to stand trial.

Dissatisfied, Roosevelt sent a cable to the commander of the U.S. Army in the Philippines, stating: “The president desires to know in the fullest and most circumstantial manner all the facts, ... for the very reason that the president intends to back up the Army in the heartiest fashion in every lawful and legitimate method of doing its work; he also intends to see that the most vigorous care is exercised to detect and prevent any cruelty or brutality and that men who are guilty thereof are punished. Great as the provocation has been in dealing with foes who habitually resort to treachery, murder and torture against our men, nothing can justify or will be held to justify the use of torture or inhuman conduct of any kind on the part of the American Army.”

Roosevelt also ordered the court-martial of the American general on the island of Samar, where some of the worst abuses had occurred. He did so “under conditions which will give me the right of review.” The court-martial cleared the general of the charges, found only that he had behaved with excessive zeal and “admonished” him against repetition.

Roosevelt responded by disregarding the verdict of the court-martial and ordering the general’s dismissal from the Army. Morris wrote that Roosevelt’s decision “won universal praise” from Democrats, who congratulated him for acknowledging cruelty in the Philippine campaign, and from Republicans, who said that he had “upheld the national honor.”

Daily Telegraph (UK): Bill Clinton Top US Liberal

From the Telegraph's list of top 20 US liberals:

1. BILL CLINTON
Former US president


The 42nd president of the United States is now auditioning for the role of what his Scottish friends term “First Laddie”. Having been impeached for lying about his sexual misdeeds during the Lewinsky scandal, blamed by some for failing to kill Osama bin Laden and having left office in 2001 amid accusations of corruption in granting last-minute pardons, Clinton, 61, has made a remarkable comeback. Perhaps everything Hillary Clinton knows about politics, bar self-discipline, she has learnt from him.

A peerless tactician, huge intellect and natural communicator, Bill Clinton was one of the great retail politicians of the 20th century. His burning desire to see his wife Hillary elected president has much to do with his own quest for vindication and a fresh platform to make his mark on history. Likely to become a roving ambassador in his wife’s administration, he will push for the Middle East peace that slipped his grasp in 2000. Whether Americans truly want a Clinton restoration will become clearer next year. Either way, Bill Clinton’s influence on the American Left in 2008 will be without equal.

Daily Telegraph (UK): Giuliani Top US Conservative

From the Telegraph's list of top 20 US conservatives:

1. RUDY GIULIANI
Republican presidential candidate

The clear Republican front runner and perhaps the only party nominee who could beat Hillary Clinton in 2008, Giuliani makes the top of our list despite his unorthodox brand of conservatism that is anathema to many on the Christian Right. Before 9/11, a thrice-married New Yorker in favour of abortion and gay rights and gun control would have struggled to survive the early stages of a Republican nomination battle despite his tax cutting and crime fighting credentials. But even many Christian conservatives who disagree with the former New York mayor on social issues now view national security as their number one priority.

Giuliani's performance after 9/11 made him an international figure and helped make a nation feel good about itself just after its darkest hour. But 9/11 is the centrepiece of the Giuliani campaign in more than just that respect - he is determined to confront America's enemies, including Iran, and has taken on an array of hawkish advisers. Meetings with Tony Blair and Gordon Brown while in London to receive an award from Margaret Thatcher underlined his global stature. All the stars are in alignment for a Democratic victory in 2008 but Giuliani has the potential to buck the historical trends and signal a dramatic shift in American conservatism by securing an unlikely win.