Michael Rubin: Will Washington Support Democracy in Iran?

Writing at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Michael Rubin asks whether the Bush Administration will support democracy in Iran. Read the article at the link - also check out the discussion at the Free Iran forum.

Winds of Change: Van Gogh Killing Was Organized

Dan Darling at Winds of Change is feeling vindicated as a Norwegian report on the Theo van Gogh killing concludes:

The killing of Theo Van Gogh was not the work of a lone fanatic but rather the deliberate work of an ad-hoc group of al-Qaeda supporters that viewed the world within the context of the network's global jihad.

Read the whole thing at the link.

VDH: The Victories So Far

Victor Davis Hanson reminds us of the impressive victories against fascism achieved by the Bush administration to date in this article on Unsung Victories. The decisions to ignore Arafat and to withdraw from Saudi Arabia generated a lot of noise from academics and Middle East "experts", but they have proved to be wise choices:

As a rule of thumb in matters of the Middle East, be very skeptical of anything that Europe (fearful of terrorists, eager for profits, tired of Jews, scared of their own growing Islamic minorities) and the Arab League (a synonym for the autocratic rule of Sunni Muslim grandees and secular despots) cook up together. If a EU president, a Saudi royal, and a Middle East specialist in the State Department or a professor in an endowed Middle Eastern Studies chair agree that the United States is "woefully naïve," "unnecessarily provocative" or "acting unilaterally," then assume that we are pretty much on the right side of history and promoting democratic reform. "Sobriety" and "working with Arab moderates" is diplo-speak for supporting or abetting an illiberal hierarchy.

What to do next? Read the article at the link to find out.

Morning Report: February 20, 2005

Iraqi police arrest suspected Zarqawi ally. On a day marred by deadly terrorist attacks against Iraqis, Iraqi police arrested a man believed linked to terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. 'Iraqi police arrested Haidar Mulaqatah during a raid in the Maffaraq area of western Baquba, about 30 miles north of Baghdad in Diyala province', according to this CNN report. In a separate raid, another suspected terrorist was captured: 'Harbi Abdul Khudier Hammudi, who served as a colonel in the old Iraqi air force, is a leader of the Salafist Jihadist terrorist group and is believed to have been involved in several attacks against coalition forces, including the bombing of an Iraqi national guard convoy last year, police said. Another leader in Hammudi's group, Faris Addula Younis, was also captured in the raid, police said.' The arrests came amid a string of homicide attacks on Irai Shi'ites timed to coincide with the Shi'a festival of Ashoura. (CNN)

Syrian allies and foes headed for showdown in Lebanon. In the wake of the Valentine's Day assassination of Rafiq Hariri, the Syrian-backed regime in Lebanon appears to be heading toward a major confrontation with its opponents. Debka reports on recent developments, including Syria's distribution of weapons and a call by Walid Jumblatt and others for the pro-Syrian regime to step down. 'The resignations of president Emil Lahoude and the Karame government were forcefully demanded by the opposition leader, Walid Jumblatt, head of the Lebanese Druses who speaks for a rare multiethnic coalition made up of his own community, Christian factions endorsed by Maronite Catholic Archbishop Nasrallah Sfeir, and Sunni Muslims led by the dead billionaire’s oldest son, Bahaa Hariri, with the blessing of the Sunni Muslim Mufti of Lebanon.' Debka predicts: 'The sparks will fly in earnest when government and Syrians move into aggressive mode to crush the opposition, which will become increasingly inflamed by multiplying leads to Syria and its Lebanese minions as Hariri’s assassins. Our sources report that US, French and Israeli intelligence have already gathered solid evidence that General Rostum Ghazallah of Syrian military intelligence orchestrated the murder on orders from Damascus with the aid of Lebanese general intelligence and its chief General Jamil al-Sayad. The Damascus-backed government in Beirut and its masters has no intention of going quietly. Bashar Assad desperately needs the political and economic benefits he extorts from Lebanon to prop up his regime. Monday, February 21, presidents George W. Bush and Jacques Chirac meet in Paris. With Lebanon at the forefront of their agenda, they will have to look hard at some tough questions. How to handle the situation if Assad orders his Syrian troops in Lebanon to march on Beirut in defense of his puppet government? And worse still, what if the full weight of the Syrian army is sent across the border to squash the uprising? Will the two Western leaders dispatch a joint US-French force to repulse the Syrian onslaught?' Chrenkoff has lots more. (Debka, Chrenkoff)

Peretz on the Left

Yet another excellent article by The New Republic's Martin Peretz has been making the blogospheric rounds. Not Much Left has been picked up by Little Green Footballs, Free Republic, and elsewhere.

But The Belmont Club really does the article justice:

Paradoxically, dogmatism is rooted in relativism more than in the belief that real truth is discoverable. For as long as the truth is believed to be "out there"; it will be sought. When its existence is doubted none will venture into the dark.

Wretchard touches on something Peretz' TNR colleague Leon Wieseltier explored in his excellent piece on George Orwell, "Aspidistra":

Here is Orwell in 1942, in "Looking Back on the Spanish War," reflecting on the lies of wartime:

This kind of thing is frightening to me, because it often gives me the feeling that the very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world. ... I am willing to believe that history is for the most part inaccurate and biased, but what is peculiar to our age is the abandonment of the idea that history could be truthfully written. In the past people deliberately lied, or they unconsciously colored what they wrote, or they struggled after the truth, well knowing that they must make many mistakes; but in each case they believed that 'the facts' existed and were more or less discoverable.

Orwell plainly regards the eclipse of objective truth as a decline and a danger.

That's just it: so many liberals have internalized the message "certainty=fascism" that they cannot indulge in certainty even in their opposition to fascism. (And yet, somehow, there is no room for doubt in their hostility toward President Bush.)

There's so much to like about Peretz' article, and Wretchard's commentary, but unfortunately I've got to close up shop for the night. Go and read.

Iraq Update

"Proof that they're losing." Desperate terrorists have abandoned their failed plan of thwarting the Iraqi elections, and are falling back on their other failed plan of trying to provoke a civil war, says Mohammed. Mohammed sees good progress in the important business of building bridges between Coalition and Iraqi security forces. He notes with approval the use of keychains with hotline phone numbers for counter-terrorism tips by citizens, and adds that a website for that purpose would be helpful too. The Iraqi media, for their part, are playing an important role in combating terrorism, often at great risk. And perhaps not surprisingly, a syrian connection emerges ... read the rest at the link.

Janeane Garofalo and Riverbend are among his guilty pleasures, but Mister Ghost at IBC does a good job of holding down the fort. Read about fifteen-year-old HNK's bad dream, Ahmed's depressed musings, and Iraqi guest students ... and see the latest picture of Aya.

Army journalist Sminklemeyer is In Iraq for 365, and he wants to share the experience with you. Go to the current posts link, and read about his running partner, Iraqi military graduations, and the kid with cancer on his tongue. Also, the blogger gets a friendly reminder (and a souvenir) from a Milwaukee cop while stateside.

Morning Report: February 18, 2005

Bombers target Shia worshipers in Baghdad. Three bombers, striking two mosques and a religious procession, killed more than 27 people in Iraq Friday. According to the AP report on Fox: 'In the first explosion, the bomber entered the vestibule of al-Khadimain mosque in Baghdad's Dora neighborhood as worshippers inside knelt in prayer before detonating his explosives, said one witness, Hussein Rahim Qassim. Shortly afterward, a bomb ripped through the Al Bayaa mosque in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in western Baghdad. Fifteen were killed in the first explosion, and ten in the second, an official at Baghdad's al-Yarmuk Hospital said on condition of anonymity. Less than an hour later, a homicide bomber blew himself up as a procession of Shiites marking Ashoura passed by, killing two and injuring eight, according to Iraqi police Lt. Waed Hussein. Shiites packed into mosques Friday to mark the eve of Ashoura, the 10th day of the Islamic holy month of Muharram and the holiest day of the year for them.' (AP via Fox)

Protestor throws shoe at Perle. During a debate in Portland's Schnitzer Auditorium, Howard Dean and Richard Perle exchanged views and barbs; Perle also dodged a shoe thrown by a protester. (CNN)

Dean - Perle Debate

Well, I'm kicking myself quite soundly tonight because for just 25 bucks I could have gone to watch Richard Perle debate Howard Dean tonight at the Schnitzer. In any case, I'll post any information about this event that I can find.

Update

I've just received my beautiful, two-inch-wide, Give Fascism The Finger button from CafePress, and it's now proudly displayed on my backpack. Got yours yet?

My next Physics exam is a week from today and I've got to make sure I know all about capacitors and inductors by then. Posting will be light to moderate. There's a ton of stuff I want to write about and I won't be able to get to all of it, but this blog won't come to a standstill either.

I've ordered an upgrade for my 17" PowerBook, which should be coming in within the next week. That'll allow me to get more done, faster and more easily. Also I'm focusing on sharpening up my computer skills because I am going to try to get into the IT line of work this year; so that means I'll be reading up on workplace applications like Excel and PowerPoint, learning the ropes of my OS X and Win XP systems, and maybe getting to know a thing or two about HTML and Unix. We'll see how it goes.

Morning Report: February 17, 2005

Lebanon asks for foreign help in Hariri case. The Lebanese government has asked for foreign assistance in investigating the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, VOA reports. Hariri was killed in an apparent suicide bombing in Beirut on Monday, which claimed the lives of 14 other people as well. The Lebanese leader was seen as a symbol of popular resistance to the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. Syria is widely suspected in the blast, and the United States has recalled its ambassador to Syria in protest. (VOA)

Iraq election update. From Debka: 'Shiite United Iraqi Alliance’s 140 lawmakers hold secret ballot Friday on premiership nominee. Top members failed Wednesday to choose between al Daawa’s Jaafari, who pledges to ask US troops to stay, and secular Iraq National Congress leader Chalabi. Kurds will back winner in return for presidency.' (Debka)

Sunnis admit election boycott was a blunder. The Command Post carries an article from the Guardian indicating that Iraqi Sunnis who boycotted the January 30 election now regard the boycott as a mistake, and see value in participating in the political process: '"Our view is that this election was a step towards democracy and ending the occupation," said Ayad al-Samaray, the assistant general secretary of the Iraqi Islamic party. He said unnamed Sunni leaders blundered in depicting the election as a deepening of the occupation.' Full story and comments available at link. (Command Post, Guardian)

Testimony on security issues. The Belmont Club critiques the testimony before Congress of various officials regarding strategic threats to the United States. 'All in all, the intelligence briefings painted a picture of an enemy that had not yet realized its power potential. It had been stayed, but not fatally wounded. On the contrary, if it could overcome its disorganization and mend fences with enablers it could become even more dangerous.' Wretchard concludes that 'of the testimonies is that Rumsfeld alone, of all the witnesses, articulated a complete grand strategic view. In particular, he understood that the threat, so well described in component by the representatives of intelligence and finance, menaced the world  as a whole and not simply the United States and that it had been emerging over a long period of time.' (Belmont Club)

Varying accounts of Iran blast. Last Wednesday, an explosion shook the southern Iranian city of Dailam, Bushehr province, in the vicinity of a nuclear facility. Beyond that, there seems to be little agreement as to what happened. Free Iran news carries a roundup of media reports and commentary. (Free Iran)

RLS: No Tears for Eason Jordan

Roger L. Simon (and that's Roger L. Simon, the blogger) will not be weeping for the recently deposed Eason Jordan:

... It is hard to find sympathy for Jordan, although a great many in the "MSM" do. This is a man who was willing to overlook the evils of Saddam so that his reporters in Iraq would be safe. Or so he claimed. How about telling the truth about Saddam from the outside? Evidently he wasn't interested in something so obvious. The people of Iraq were irrelevant to him. Only CNN and his own career, it seems. ...

Apropos Valentine's Day, Roger also offers his thoughts on Eason Jordan's love life. Read the whole post here:
Roger L. Simon: A Moral Issue

And we may gain some insights into the culture of CNN by reading about the network's role models (hat tip: Little Green Footballs).

Armanious - Garas Killings: "Money, Not Religious Extremism"

Religious hate was probably not the motivating factor in the murder of a New Jersey family of four last month, according to law enforcement authorities.

Tom Troncone of NorthJersey.com, writing about the horrific slaying of Hossam Armanious, Amal Garas, and their two daughters in Jersey City a month ago, reports:

"We're getting somewhere that hopefully is going to give us a clear indication as to what the motive is," said Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio. "And once you have motive, that helps lead you to the people involved."

DeFazio still won't discuss the intricate details of the case or explain why investigators are leaning toward a financial motive for the killings. But he did provide a glimpse into the probe, which has included assistance from an FBI profiler.

"The FBI does not think that, based on the information gleaned from the scene, it's based on religious extremism," the prosecutor said, without elaborating.

For full details, as well as the reactions of Armanious and Garas family members and other members of the Coptic community, read the article at NorthJersey.com.