Melanie Phillips's Articles: The demographic death-wish: "Britain is sitting on an infertility time-bomb. A leading fertility expert, Professor Bill Ledger, has warned that within the next ten years the number of couples experiencing problems conceiving children is expected to double.
By 2015, he says, one in three couples may need fertility treatment. Low success rates from IVF mean soaring numbers will be left childless, with extra thousands going through this draining treatment at huge cost to the health service.
He blames this looming crisis on modern lifestyle factors such as delays in starting a family, obesity, falling sperm counts and rising rates of sexually transmitted diseases."
VERY INTERESTING
Thursday, June 30, 2005
The Belmont Club
The Belmont Club: "Politics at its most corrupt is the art of promising something for nothing; or more realistically, concealing the price for services rendered. Nobody wants to mention that 'free health care' is paid for by tax deductions. Still fewer want to admit that security is obtained by force; information by compulsion; or that war involves violence. The process of 'extraordinary rendition' is a case study in laundering responsibility; a description of how a commodity is provided by an astute political division of labor."
OpinionJournal - Peggy Noonan
OpinionJournal - Peggy NoonanHow exactly does it work? How does legitimate self-confidence become wildly inflated self-regard? How does self respect become unblinking conceit? How exactly does one's character become destabilized in Washington?
The Supreme Court this week and last issued many rulings, and though they were on different issues the decisions themselves had at least one thing in common: They seemed to reflect a lack of basic human modesty on the part of many of the justices. Many are famously very old, and they have been together as a court for a very long time. One wonders if they have lost all understanding of how privileged they are to have lifetime sinecures of power and authority. Do they have any sense anymore of common human wisdom, of the normal human arrangements by which Americans live?
Maybe a lot of them aren't bothering to think. Maybe Ruth Bader Ginsburg is no longer in the habit of listening to arguments but only of watching William Rehnquist, and if he nods up and down she knows to vote "no," and if he shakes his head she knows to vote "yes." That might explain some of the lack of seriousness in the decisions. Local government can bulldoze Grandma's house because it's in the way of a future strip mall that will add more to the tax base? The Ten Commandments can appear on public land but not in a courthouse, but Moses, who received the Ten Commandments can appear in the frieze of the House but he'll be sandblasted off the Supreme Court? Or do I have that the other way around?
What are they doing? All this hair splitting, this dithering, this cutting and pasting--all this lack of serious and defining principle. All this vanity. Readit all
The Supreme Court this week and last issued many rulings, and though they were on different issues the decisions themselves had at least one thing in common: They seemed to reflect a lack of basic human modesty on the part of many of the justices. Many are famously very old, and they have been together as a court for a very long time. One wonders if they have lost all understanding of how privileged they are to have lifetime sinecures of power and authority. Do they have any sense anymore of common human wisdom, of the normal human arrangements by which Americans live?
Maybe a lot of them aren't bothering to think. Maybe Ruth Bader Ginsburg is no longer in the habit of listening to arguments but only of watching William Rehnquist, and if he nods up and down she knows to vote "no," and if he shakes his head she knows to vote "yes." That might explain some of the lack of seriousness in the decisions. Local government can bulldoze Grandma's house because it's in the way of a future strip mall that will add more to the tax base? The Ten Commandments can appear on public land but not in a courthouse, but Moses, who received the Ten Commandments can appear in the frieze of the House but he'll be sandblasted off the Supreme Court? Or do I have that the other way around?
What are they doing? All this hair splitting, this dithering, this cutting and pasting--all this lack of serious and defining principle. All this vanity. Readit all
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Anubis
Anubis: "Islamic barbarity watch
Much is made of the 'elevated' civilization the various Muslim Caliphates allegedly enjoyed while Europe was enduring the Dark Ages.
While my ancestors managed to claw their way back into the light, it seems that, at some point, Islam - and especially Islamic law - fell into the abyss and never got out:
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Rapist cop booked under controversial religious law
A Pakistani policeman charged with raping a teenaged girl in a police station has been charged under a controversial religious law that carries the death penalty - but which could also enable him to walk free.
Sub-inspector Qaiser Shah was booked under Sections 10 and 11 of the Hud Zina Ordinance, which puts the onus on the victim to prove she was raped.
Under this law, the victim has to produce four male Muslims who were witness to the rape. If she fails to prove the allegation, she can be ostracised and even charged with adultery.
------------------------------------------------------
There's an enlightened bunch for you."
Much is made of the 'elevated' civilization the various Muslim Caliphates allegedly enjoyed while Europe was enduring the Dark Ages.
While my ancestors managed to claw their way back into the light, it seems that, at some point, Islam - and especially Islamic law - fell into the abyss and never got out:
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Rapist cop booked under controversial religious law
A Pakistani policeman charged with raping a teenaged girl in a police station has been charged under a controversial religious law that carries the death penalty - but which could also enable him to walk free.
Sub-inspector Qaiser Shah was booked under Sections 10 and 11 of the Hud Zina Ordinance, which puts the onus on the victim to prove she was raped.
Under this law, the victim has to produce four male Muslims who were witness to the rape. If she fails to prove the allegation, she can be ostracised and even charged with adultery.
------------------------------------------------------
There's an enlightened bunch for you."
Babalu Blog: Cubanisms: Only in Miami...
Babalu Blog: Cubanisms: Only in Miami...These are building contractor terms in Miami Spanglish. For your enjoyment and miseducation, a few of those terms follow:
Draibol: Dry Wall
Guedarpru: Weatherproof
Guatartai: Watertight
esto: Stud
grei: Grade
bin: Beam
pos: Post
rufeador: Roofer
tailero: Tiler
plastero: Plaster (I always thinks of the word plasta in Spanish or cowpie, so I imagine that their work is pretty bad!!!!)
estin: Steam (for heating)
chutaras: Shutters
And many others...
Plus the reckless translations from Spanish, literally:
White Carpenter: Carpinteria en Blanco (unfinished carpentry, construction carpenter who puts up wood siding or wood beams and plywood in the roof)
Cabineter: Ebanista, Cabinet maker
Final Carpenter: No, it's not the last carpenter on your list, it's somebody who delivers a finished product!!! Also Fine Carpenter, from Spanish carpinteria fina.
I simply think that this is pathetic. They should be learning English, and if that's too difficult for people of a certain age or level of education, well, they at least should use the correct terms in Spanish so they don't become the laughing stock of the world. I think that one needs to speak properly whichever language one prefers to communicate with others, but that this kind of half tongue lingo is totally unacceptable. Many people would not hire somebody with this kind of business card and that's detrimental for both the person who is trying to earn a contract and the trades of construction in general.
Draibol: Dry Wall
Guedarpru: Weatherproof
Guatartai: Watertight
esto: Stud
grei: Grade
bin: Beam
pos: Post
rufeador: Roofer
tailero: Tiler
plastero: Plaster (I always thinks of the word plasta in Spanish or cowpie, so I imagine that their work is pretty bad!!!!)
estin: Steam (for heating)
chutaras: Shutters
And many others...
Plus the reckless translations from Spanish, literally:
White Carpenter: Carpinteria en Blanco (unfinished carpentry, construction carpenter who puts up wood siding or wood beams and plywood in the roof)
Cabineter: Ebanista, Cabinet maker
Final Carpenter: No, it's not the last carpenter on your list, it's somebody who delivers a finished product!!! Also Fine Carpenter, from Spanish carpinteria fina.
I simply think that this is pathetic. They should be learning English, and if that's too difficult for people of a certain age or level of education, well, they at least should use the correct terms in Spanish so they don't become the laughing stock of the world. I think that one needs to speak properly whichever language one prefers to communicate with others, but that this kind of half tongue lingo is totally unacceptable. Many people would not hire somebody with this kind of business card and that's detrimental for both the person who is trying to earn a contract and the trades of construction in general.
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Power Line: Where Will It End?
Power Line: Where Will It End?: "The hate, that is. Victor Davis Hanson recapitulates the liberals' hate campaign against President Bush, ranging from Charlie Rangel ('This is just as bad as the 6 million Jews being killed') to John Glenn ('It's the old Hitler business') to Amnesty International. Like us, Hanson worries about where all this will lead:
As a result, the bar is lowering. In today's climate, Alfred Knopf has already published a novel about killing the president. Charlie Brooker writing in the Guardian in London prayed for another Lee Harvey Oswald to take out George W. Bush. Comedians, New York plays and art exhibits also bandy about assassination.
Each time a public official evokes Hitler to demonize the president, the American effort in Iraq or its conservative supporters, cheap rhetorical fantasy becomes only that much closer to a nightmarish reality where the unstable, here and abroad, act on the belief America really is Hitler's Germany.
We will all soon reap what the ignorant are now sowing.
Let's hope that somber prophecy doesn't prove true. Michelle Malkin notes more evidence of the same phenomenon. She links to the Huffington Post, where, in response to a rumor that Vice-President Cheney was hospitalized in Colorado, Democratic commenters openly wish for Chency's death, much as some (to be fair, not all) liberals recently cheered for conservative commentator Laura Ingraham to die of breast cancer.
It's not a pretty picture. Meanwhile, to put all of this in perspective, Gateway Pundit has a good roundup of developments in the trial, in Jordan, of 13 al Qaeda terrorists for plotting to perpetrate the worst chemical weapons attack in history. (We most recently commented on the Jordan trial in 'Pay No Attention to the Terrorists Behind the Curtain'.)
The Jordan trial is significant in part because it shows what an important base for al Qaeda-directed terrorism Saddam's Iraq was. But this is of little interest to the left; as best I can tell from a site search, readers of the New York Times don't even know the Jordan trial is going on. Liberals are convinced they know who their enemies are, and they're not talking about the al Qaeda terrorists who, directed from Iraq, schemed to kill tens of thousands of Jordanians and Americans."
Here!
As a result, the bar is lowering. In today's climate, Alfred Knopf has already published a novel about killing the president. Charlie Brooker writing in the Guardian in London prayed for another Lee Harvey Oswald to take out George W. Bush. Comedians, New York plays and art exhibits also bandy about assassination.
Each time a public official evokes Hitler to demonize the president, the American effort in Iraq or its conservative supporters, cheap rhetorical fantasy becomes only that much closer to a nightmarish reality where the unstable, here and abroad, act on the belief America really is Hitler's Germany.
We will all soon reap what the ignorant are now sowing.
Let's hope that somber prophecy doesn't prove true. Michelle Malkin notes more evidence of the same phenomenon. She links to the Huffington Post, where, in response to a rumor that Vice-President Cheney was hospitalized in Colorado, Democratic commenters openly wish for Chency's death, much as some (to be fair, not all) liberals recently cheered for conservative commentator Laura Ingraham to die of breast cancer.
It's not a pretty picture. Meanwhile, to put all of this in perspective, Gateway Pundit has a good roundup of developments in the trial, in Jordan, of 13 al Qaeda terrorists for plotting to perpetrate the worst chemical weapons attack in history. (We most recently commented on the Jordan trial in 'Pay No Attention to the Terrorists Behind the Curtain'.)
The Jordan trial is significant in part because it shows what an important base for al Qaeda-directed terrorism Saddam's Iraq was. But this is of little interest to the left; as best I can tell from a site search, readers of the New York Times don't even know the Jordan trial is going on. Liberals are convinced they know who their enemies are, and they're not talking about the al Qaeda terrorists who, directed from Iraq, schemed to kill tens of thousands of Jordanians and Americans."
Here!
Friday, June 24, 2005
Los Angeles Times: Why the Rebels Will Lose
Los Angeles Times: Why the Rebels Will Lose: "June 23, 2005
No wonder public support for the war is plummeting and finger-to-the-wind politicians are heading for the exits: All the headlines out of Iraq recently have been about the rebels' reign of terror. But, lest we build up the enemy into 10-foot-tall supermen, it's important to realize how weak they actually are. Most of the conditions that existed in previous wars won by guerrillas, from Algeria in the 1950s to Afghanistan in the 1980s, aren't present in Iraq.
The rebels lack a unifying organization, ideology and leader. There is no Iraqi Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro or Mao Tse-tung. The top militant is Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian who has alienated most of the Iraqi population, even many Sunnis, with his indiscriminate attacks on civilians. Read More
Support for the insurgency is confined to a minority within a minority —"
No wonder public support for the war is plummeting and finger-to-the-wind politicians are heading for the exits: All the headlines out of Iraq recently have been about the rebels' reign of terror. But, lest we build up the enemy into 10-foot-tall supermen, it's important to realize how weak they actually are. Most of the conditions that existed in previous wars won by guerrillas, from Algeria in the 1950s to Afghanistan in the 1980s, aren't present in Iraq.
The rebels lack a unifying organization, ideology and leader. There is no Iraqi Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro or Mao Tse-tung. The top militant is Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian who has alienated most of the Iraqi population, even many Sunnis, with his indiscriminate attacks on civilians. Read More
Support for the insurgency is confined to a minority within a minority —"
Thursday, June 23, 2005
The American Enterprise: The War is Over, and We Won
The American Enterprise: The War is Over, and We Won: "
The War is Over, and We Won
By Karl Zinsmeister
Your editor returned to Iraq in April and May of 2005 for another embedded period of reporting. I could immediately see improvements compared to my earlier extended tours during 2003 and 2004. The Iraqi security forces, for example, are vastly more competent, and in some cases quite inspiring. Baghdad is now choked with traffic. Cell phones have spread like wildfire. And satellite TV dishes sprout from even the most humble mud hovels in the countryside." Fullpage
The War is Over, and We Won
By Karl Zinsmeister
Your editor returned to Iraq in April and May of 2005 for another embedded period of reporting. I could immediately see improvements compared to my earlier extended tours during 2003 and 2004. The Iraqi security forces, for example, are vastly more competent, and in some cases quite inspiring. Baghdad is now choked with traffic. Cell phones have spread like wildfire. And satellite TV dishes sprout from even the most humble mud hovels in the countryside." Fullpage
The American Enterprise: The War is Over, and We Won
The American Enterprise: The War is Over, and We Won: "Your editor returned to Iraq in April and May of 2005 for another embedded period of reporting. I could immediately see improvements compared to my earlier extended tours during 2003 and 2004. The Iraqi security forces, for example, are vastly more competent, and in some cases quite inspiring. Baghdad is now choked with traffic. Cell phones have spread like wildfire. And satellite TV dishes sprout from even the most humble mud hovels in the countryside." See here!
Terrorists or Insurgencists
A Western Heart: "I know the media doesn't use the word 'terrorists', and instead prefers 'insurgency', but here's a NYT piece on the terrorists with some interesting news:
U.S. marines watching the skyline from their second-story perch in an abandoned house here saw a curious thing: In the distance, mortar rounds and gunfire popped, but the volleys did not seem to be aimed at them.
In the dark, one marine spoke in hushed code words on a radio, and after a minute found the answer. 'Red on red,' he said late Sunday night, using a military term for enemy-on-enemy fire."
Read it here
U.S. marines watching the skyline from their second-story perch in an abandoned house here saw a curious thing: In the distance, mortar rounds and gunfire popped, but the volleys did not seem to be aimed at them.
In the dark, one marine spoke in hushed code words on a radio, and after a minute found the answer. 'Red on red,' he said late Sunday night, using a military term for enemy-on-enemy fire."
Read it here
The American Thinker
The American Thinker: "Will the Republicans we elected please stand up
June 21st, 2005
I voted for our current president twice for one fundamental reason: he exhibited the unique, personal leadership characteristics, I believed our country needed the first time he ran and continues to need today. He looked at a situation, sized it up, made a decision, told you what he was going to do and then…he did it.
His propensity to deliver on promises made some inside the beltway very uncomfortable, I am sure.
As I look at where we are as a country today, I see some alarming parallels between the behavior of some elected officials during the Vietnam War and some elected officials now. Perhaps you do as well. " . . .Read here
June 21st, 2005
I voted for our current president twice for one fundamental reason: he exhibited the unique, personal leadership characteristics, I believed our country needed the first time he ran and continues to need today. He looked at a situation, sized it up, made a decision, told you what he was going to do and then…he did it.
His propensity to deliver on promises made some inside the beltway very uncomfortable, I am sure.
As I look at where we are as a country today, I see some alarming parallels between the behavior of some elected officials during the Vietnam War and some elected officials now. Perhaps you do as well. " . . .Read here
Monday, June 20, 2005
Power Line: The Real Thing
Power Line: The Real Thing: "The Real Thing
Marines in western Iraq made a sobering discovery yesterday that highlights the folly of those who decry 'torture' at Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay:
Marines on an operation to eliminate insurgents that began Friday broke through the outside wall of a building in this small rural village to find a torture center equipped with electric wires, a noose, handcuffs, a 574-page jihad manual - and four beaten and shackled Iraqis.
One way you can distinguish a real torture center from an American detention facility is that in the real thing, people keep dying:
'They kill somebody every day,' said Mr. Fathil, whose hands were so swollen he could not open a can of Coke offered to him by a marine. 'They've killed a lot of people.'
***
His town has always been a good place, he said, but the militants have made it hell.
'These few are destroying it,' he said, his face streaked with tears. 'Everybody they take, they kill. It's on a daily basis pretty much.'
What do you think; do you suppose we need a lot more news stories about how a guard at Gitmo accidentally touched a Koran?
The liberals' public relations campaign against the American military and the Bush administration, based on the overblown Abu Ghraib story and the bogus Guantanamo Bay story, is a disgrace.
UPDATE: A reader pointed out that I forgot to include the link, which I've added."
Marines in western Iraq made a sobering discovery yesterday that highlights the folly of those who decry 'torture' at Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay:
Marines on an operation to eliminate insurgents that began Friday broke through the outside wall of a building in this small rural village to find a torture center equipped with electric wires, a noose, handcuffs, a 574-page jihad manual - and four beaten and shackled Iraqis.
One way you can distinguish a real torture center from an American detention facility is that in the real thing, people keep dying:
'They kill somebody every day,' said Mr. Fathil, whose hands were so swollen he could not open a can of Coke offered to him by a marine. 'They've killed a lot of people.'
***
His town has always been a good place, he said, but the militants have made it hell.
'These few are destroying it,' he said, his face streaked with tears. 'Everybody they take, they kill. It's on a daily basis pretty much.'
What do you think; do you suppose we need a lot more news stories about how a guard at Gitmo accidentally touched a Koran?
The liberals' public relations campaign against the American military and the Bush administration, based on the overblown Abu Ghraib story and the bogus Guantanamo Bay story, is a disgrace.
UPDATE: A reader pointed out that I forgot to include the link, which I've added."
Truck drivers find Iraq comfortable, rewarding
Truck drivers find Iraq comfortable, rewardingTruck drivers find Iraq comfortable, rewarding
Associated Press
LYONS - When he signed on for a one-year tour of duty as a truck driver in Iraq, Dean Battershell was looking at the paycheck.
He thought he might be living with heat, scorpions, and sleeping in a tent with a dirt floor. But that hasn't been the case.
Besides the money being "good," Battershell said he's sold on the job, and making plans for extending his time. He has been in Iraq four months. He came home for a visit recently.
"Five years ago, I would have never dreamed of anything like this," he said. "But when it's over we'll have a little money in the bank, and I can say for myself, 'We did our part.' "
Kathy Lines, whose husband, Randy Lines, is working with Battershell in Iraq, agreed.
The two men, good friends and fishing buddies, signed up together. Lines has driven trucks for 19 years and Battershell for 3 ½.
They headed for Iraq in early February. Battershell is returning for a second four-month tour in June. Lines is slated to be home for a visit in early July.
"He'll stay for the full year. He's not afraid," Kathy Lines said. "The food's good. He likes the people, and he's made tons of friends from a lot of nations."
Dressed in blue jeans and a plaid shirt, Battershell sat beside Lines in the back room of his dad's business, Earl's Upholstery, on the north side of the Rice County Courthouse square.
In addition to the "good chow," he's assigned to an air-conditioned 9-by-12 room outfitted with a single bed. Other amenities include a private bathroom and a PX shopping area with a movie theater, a weight room and a library. He doesn't need money, except for gifts or pocket change. His checks are direct-deposited in the United States.
Battershell spends his days behind the wheel of a cab-over truck pulling a flatbed trailer. It's loaded mostly with shipping cartons and headed for different bases. Hauling time depends on the load, from 2 ½ hours up. Lines is driving "reefers," refrigerated semis loaded with perishables.
"We go all the way south to Kuwait and north of Baghdad, east and west, close to the Iranian border," he said.
The trucks travel in convoys of 10 to 13 rigs.
While "things happen," Battershell said, he's not afraid.
"We get hit every once in a while, but it's a rarity anymore, not an everyday occurrence," he said. "I go outside the wire not expecting any problems."
As he rocked back and forth in a well-worn office chair, Battershell talked about what he's seen and the opinions he's formed about the politics of war.
The body count's the big news. Losing even one military life is bad. But what people aren't hearing is of the thousands of people on the street whose lives have been saved and turned around, he said. Life's better.
There are long lines of Iraqis joining the military and police, and kids are back in school, he said. The primary coalition goal is to see the infrastructure up and going, bridges fixed and oil back online, he said.
"Even before the war, the infrastructure was shot," Battershell said.
Holding a photo album of snapshots, Lines joined in describing the life. She and her husband talk daily by telephone.
"It's 113 degrees there right now," she said.
Morale is good, with the coalition forces, truckers and laborers from around the world getting along great with one another. There are times he's lonely, Battershell said. But when he was stateside sometimes he was away from home for as long as two weeks.
While both men have been in the line of fire and day-to-day it's dangerous, they're not afraid, Battershell said, noting he's felt danger in other places, too, like going down the highway in Chicago or southern Los Angeles.
On his return this week, Battershell's ride from the airport to the company base will be in a "hard car" -- an armored SUV with 2 ½-inch glass -- or riding in the back of a truck.
He's become aware of culture differences between Iraqis and Westerners, with worshippers stopping five times daily for prayer and some farmers hauling sheep and goats in the back seat of their pickup truck while their wives ride in the truck bed.
"I was never pro-war, but I am pro what we're doing," he said. "It's not what you see on TV. We've saved a lot of lives by going in and getting that guy, Saddam. When we first took over, the people didn't understand what freedom is."
Associated Press
LYONS - When he signed on for a one-year tour of duty as a truck driver in Iraq, Dean Battershell was looking at the paycheck.
He thought he might be living with heat, scorpions, and sleeping in a tent with a dirt floor. But that hasn't been the case.
Besides the money being "good," Battershell said he's sold on the job, and making plans for extending his time. He has been in Iraq four months. He came home for a visit recently.
"Five years ago, I would have never dreamed of anything like this," he said. "But when it's over we'll have a little money in the bank, and I can say for myself, 'We did our part.' "
Kathy Lines, whose husband, Randy Lines, is working with Battershell in Iraq, agreed.
The two men, good friends and fishing buddies, signed up together. Lines has driven trucks for 19 years and Battershell for 3 ½.
They headed for Iraq in early February. Battershell is returning for a second four-month tour in June. Lines is slated to be home for a visit in early July.
"He'll stay for the full year. He's not afraid," Kathy Lines said. "The food's good. He likes the people, and he's made tons of friends from a lot of nations."
Dressed in blue jeans and a plaid shirt, Battershell sat beside Lines in the back room of his dad's business, Earl's Upholstery, on the north side of the Rice County Courthouse square.
In addition to the "good chow," he's assigned to an air-conditioned 9-by-12 room outfitted with a single bed. Other amenities include a private bathroom and a PX shopping area with a movie theater, a weight room and a library. He doesn't need money, except for gifts or pocket change. His checks are direct-deposited in the United States.
Battershell spends his days behind the wheel of a cab-over truck pulling a flatbed trailer. It's loaded mostly with shipping cartons and headed for different bases. Hauling time depends on the load, from 2 ½ hours up. Lines is driving "reefers," refrigerated semis loaded with perishables.
"We go all the way south to Kuwait and north of Baghdad, east and west, close to the Iranian border," he said.
The trucks travel in convoys of 10 to 13 rigs.
While "things happen," Battershell said, he's not afraid.
"We get hit every once in a while, but it's a rarity anymore, not an everyday occurrence," he said. "I go outside the wire not expecting any problems."
As he rocked back and forth in a well-worn office chair, Battershell talked about what he's seen and the opinions he's formed about the politics of war.
The body count's the big news. Losing even one military life is bad. But what people aren't hearing is of the thousands of people on the street whose lives have been saved and turned around, he said. Life's better.
There are long lines of Iraqis joining the military and police, and kids are back in school, he said. The primary coalition goal is to see the infrastructure up and going, bridges fixed and oil back online, he said.
"Even before the war, the infrastructure was shot," Battershell said.
Holding a photo album of snapshots, Lines joined in describing the life. She and her husband talk daily by telephone.
"It's 113 degrees there right now," she said.
Morale is good, with the coalition forces, truckers and laborers from around the world getting along great with one another. There are times he's lonely, Battershell said. But when he was stateside sometimes he was away from home for as long as two weeks.
While both men have been in the line of fire and day-to-day it's dangerous, they're not afraid, Battershell said, noting he's felt danger in other places, too, like going down the highway in Chicago or southern Los Angeles.
On his return this week, Battershell's ride from the airport to the company base will be in a "hard car" -- an armored SUV with 2 ½-inch glass -- or riding in the back of a truck.
He's become aware of culture differences between Iraqis and Westerners, with worshippers stopping five times daily for prayer and some farmers hauling sheep and goats in the back seat of their pickup truck while their wives ride in the truck bed.
"I was never pro-war, but I am pro what we're doing," he said. "It's not what you see on TV. We've saved a lot of lives by going in and getting that guy, Saddam. When we first took over, the people didn't understand what freedom is."
Saturday, June 18, 2005
New Rules of engagement
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Plus, Amnesty's amnesia.
By Christopher Hitchens
Posted Monday, June 13, 2005, at 3:30 PM PT
A favorite slice of reality TV in today's Iraq is the melodramatically named program Terrorism in the Grip of Justice. Aired on state-run Al Iraqiya, which doesn't require a satellite dish, it shows the confessions of captured "insurgents," mainly foreign fighters. When possible, it also shows the videos that these people have made, so that, for example, a man can be viewed as he slices a victim's throat and then viewed, looking much less brave, as he explains where he comes from, how he was taught to rehearse beheadings and throat-slittings on animals, and other insights into the trade. On occasion, these characters are confronted with the families of their victims. At other times, they have been able to tell the families of the missing what happened to their loved ones. The aim is to demystify the holy warriors and also to encourage civilians to call in with further tips.
Some of the confessions, such as one from an alleged Syrian intelligence officer who said that the insurgency was run by Syria, are a little too convenient. And the possibility exists that other confessions are either staged or coerced. Nonetheless, the program, which originated in the northern city of Mosul, has been very influential in exposing the origins and character of the forces that are bent on wrecking Iraqi society.
Terrorism in the Grip of Justice could only be shown once the transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi government had been made. The United States could not have put any of these people on television, because the Geneva Conventions forbid the exhibiting of prisoners. (I don't know what the law would say about showing the program on U.S. television, and in any case the video-beheadings recorded by the captured perpetrators would be too hideous for mass consumption.) In my opinion, at any rate, the elected Iraqi authorities are well within their rights in using this means of propaganda. Indeed, they are entitled to all the presumptions of a war of self-defense.
The position of the United States is different, because not only is it a signatory to the Geneva protocols, it is also the power that has pressed other nations to both sign and observe them. (It was also the United States that pressed all member states of the United Nations to sign Eleanor Roosevelt's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the Soviet Union and Saudi Arabia at first declined to do.) Any wavering on the part of Washington thus has consequences far beyond itself.
The forces of al-Qaida and its surrogate organizations are not signatory to the conventions and naturally express contempt for them. They have no battle order or uniform and are represented by no authority with which terms can be negotiated. Nor can they claim, as actual guerrilla movements like the Algerian FLN have done in the past, to be the future representatives of their countries or peoples. In Afghanistan and Iraq, they sought to destroy the electoral process that alone can confer true legitimacy, and they are in many, if not most, cases not even citizens of the countries concerned. Their announced aim is the destruction of all nonbelievers, and their avowed method is indiscriminate and random murder. They are more like pirates, hijackers, or torturers—three categories of people who have in the past been declared outside the protection of any law.
The administration therefore deserves at least some sympathy in its confrontation with an enemy of a new type. I should very much like to know how a Gore administration would have dealt with the hundreds of foreign sadists taken in arms in Afghanistan. I should also like to know how other Western governments, which are privately relieved that the United States assumed responsibility for the last wave, expect to handle the next wave of fundamentalist violence in their own societies. No word on this as yet.
An axiom of the law states that justice is more offended by one innocent person punished than by any number of guilty persons unapprehended. I say frankly that I am not certain of the applicability of this in the present case. Mullah Omar's convoy in Afghanistan was allowed to escape because there was insufficient certainty to justify bombing it. Several detainees released from Guantanamo have reappeared in the Taliban ranks, once again burning and killing and sabotaging. The man whose story of rough interrogation has just been published in Time had planned to board a United Airlines flight and crash it into a skyscraper. I want to know who his friends and contacts were, and so do you, hypocrite lecteur.
You may desire this while also reserving the right to demand that he has a lawyer present at all times. But please observe where we stand now. Alberto Gonzales was excoriated even for asking, or being asked, about the applicability of Geneva rules. Apparently, Guantanamo won't do as a holding pen until we decide how to handle and classify these people. But meanwhile, neither will it do to "render" any suspects to their countries of origin. How many alternatives does this leave? Is al-Qaida itself to be considered a "ticking bomb" or not? How many of those who express concern about Guantanamo have also been denouncing the administration for being too lenient about ignoring warnings and missing opportunities for a pre-atrocity roundup? I merely ask. I also express the wish that more detainees be brought, like the wretched American John Walker Lindh, before a court.
About Amnesty International's disgraceful performance, however, I can tell as well as ask. I was at one point quite close to its London headquarters, and I used to both carry and return messages for the organization when I went as a reporter to screwed-up countries. The founding statutes were quite clear: An Amnesty local was to adopt three "prisoners of conscience," one from either side of the Cold War and one from a "neutral" state. Letters were to be written to the relevant governments and to newspapers in free countries. Though physical torture and capital punishment were opposed in all cases, no overt political position was to be taken. (I remember there was quite a row when an Amnesty "country report" on Argentina went so far as to describe a guerrilla raid as "daring.") By adhering to these rules, AI became a credible worldwide group to which even the most repressive governments sometimes had to pay attention. All honor to its founder Peter Benenson, who died earlier this year.
And now look. I think it is fairly safe to say that not one detainee in Guantanamo is there because of an expression of opinion. (And those whose "opinion" is that all infidels must die are not exactly prisoners of conscience.) Morally neutral on this point, apparently, Amnesty nonetheless finds its voice by describing the prison itself as "the gulag of our times." No need to waste words here: Not everyone in the gulag was a "prisoner of conscience," either. But if an organization that ostensibly protects the rights of prisoners is unaware of the nature of a colossal system of forced labor and arbitrary detention—replete with physical torture, starvation, and brutal execution—then the moral compass has become disordered beyond repair. This is not even neutrality between the fireman and the fire. It surely expresses a covert sympathy with the aims and objectives of jihad and an overt, if witless and sinister, hatred of the United States. If only this were the only symptom of that tendency.
Christopher Hitchens is a columnist for Vanity Fair. His most recent book is Thomas Jefferson: Author of America.
Plus, Amnesty's amnesia.
By Christopher Hitchens
Posted Monday, June 13, 2005, at 3:30 PM PT
A favorite slice of reality TV in today's Iraq is the melodramatically named program Terrorism in the Grip of Justice. Aired on state-run Al Iraqiya, which doesn't require a satellite dish, it shows the confessions of captured "insurgents," mainly foreign fighters. When possible, it also shows the videos that these people have made, so that, for example, a man can be viewed as he slices a victim's throat and then viewed, looking much less brave, as he explains where he comes from, how he was taught to rehearse beheadings and throat-slittings on animals, and other insights into the trade. On occasion, these characters are confronted with the families of their victims. At other times, they have been able to tell the families of the missing what happened to their loved ones. The aim is to demystify the holy warriors and also to encourage civilians to call in with further tips.
Some of the confessions, such as one from an alleged Syrian intelligence officer who said that the insurgency was run by Syria, are a little too convenient. And the possibility exists that other confessions are either staged or coerced. Nonetheless, the program, which originated in the northern city of Mosul, has been very influential in exposing the origins and character of the forces that are bent on wrecking Iraqi society.
Terrorism in the Grip of Justice could only be shown once the transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi government had been made. The United States could not have put any of these people on television, because the Geneva Conventions forbid the exhibiting of prisoners. (I don't know what the law would say about showing the program on U.S. television, and in any case the video-beheadings recorded by the captured perpetrators would be too hideous for mass consumption.) In my opinion, at any rate, the elected Iraqi authorities are well within their rights in using this means of propaganda. Indeed, they are entitled to all the presumptions of a war of self-defense.
The position of the United States is different, because not only is it a signatory to the Geneva protocols, it is also the power that has pressed other nations to both sign and observe them. (It was also the United States that pressed all member states of the United Nations to sign Eleanor Roosevelt's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the Soviet Union and Saudi Arabia at first declined to do.) Any wavering on the part of Washington thus has consequences far beyond itself.
The forces of al-Qaida and its surrogate organizations are not signatory to the conventions and naturally express contempt for them. They have no battle order or uniform and are represented by no authority with which terms can be negotiated. Nor can they claim, as actual guerrilla movements like the Algerian FLN have done in the past, to be the future representatives of their countries or peoples. In Afghanistan and Iraq, they sought to destroy the electoral process that alone can confer true legitimacy, and they are in many, if not most, cases not even citizens of the countries concerned. Their announced aim is the destruction of all nonbelievers, and their avowed method is indiscriminate and random murder. They are more like pirates, hijackers, or torturers—three categories of people who have in the past been declared outside the protection of any law.
The administration therefore deserves at least some sympathy in its confrontation with an enemy of a new type. I should very much like to know how a Gore administration would have dealt with the hundreds of foreign sadists taken in arms in Afghanistan. I should also like to know how other Western governments, which are privately relieved that the United States assumed responsibility for the last wave, expect to handle the next wave of fundamentalist violence in their own societies. No word on this as yet.
An axiom of the law states that justice is more offended by one innocent person punished than by any number of guilty persons unapprehended. I say frankly that I am not certain of the applicability of this in the present case. Mullah Omar's convoy in Afghanistan was allowed to escape because there was insufficient certainty to justify bombing it. Several detainees released from Guantanamo have reappeared in the Taliban ranks, once again burning and killing and sabotaging. The man whose story of rough interrogation has just been published in Time had planned to board a United Airlines flight and crash it into a skyscraper. I want to know who his friends and contacts were, and so do you, hypocrite lecteur.
You may desire this while also reserving the right to demand that he has a lawyer present at all times. But please observe where we stand now. Alberto Gonzales was excoriated even for asking, or being asked, about the applicability of Geneva rules. Apparently, Guantanamo won't do as a holding pen until we decide how to handle and classify these people. But meanwhile, neither will it do to "render" any suspects to their countries of origin. How many alternatives does this leave? Is al-Qaida itself to be considered a "ticking bomb" or not? How many of those who express concern about Guantanamo have also been denouncing the administration for being too lenient about ignoring warnings and missing opportunities for a pre-atrocity roundup? I merely ask. I also express the wish that more detainees be brought, like the wretched American John Walker Lindh, before a court.
About Amnesty International's disgraceful performance, however, I can tell as well as ask. I was at one point quite close to its London headquarters, and I used to both carry and return messages for the organization when I went as a reporter to screwed-up countries. The founding statutes were quite clear: An Amnesty local was to adopt three "prisoners of conscience," one from either side of the Cold War and one from a "neutral" state. Letters were to be written to the relevant governments and to newspapers in free countries. Though physical torture and capital punishment were opposed in all cases, no overt political position was to be taken. (I remember there was quite a row when an Amnesty "country report" on Argentina went so far as to describe a guerrilla raid as "daring.") By adhering to these rules, AI became a credible worldwide group to which even the most repressive governments sometimes had to pay attention. All honor to its founder Peter Benenson, who died earlier this year.
And now look. I think it is fairly safe to say that not one detainee in Guantanamo is there because of an expression of opinion. (And those whose "opinion" is that all infidels must die are not exactly prisoners of conscience.) Morally neutral on this point, apparently, Amnesty nonetheless finds its voice by describing the prison itself as "the gulag of our times." No need to waste words here: Not everyone in the gulag was a "prisoner of conscience," either. But if an organization that ostensibly protects the rights of prisoners is unaware of the nature of a colossal system of forced labor and arbitrary detention—replete with physical torture, starvation, and brutal execution—then the moral compass has become disordered beyond repair. This is not even neutrality between the fireman and the fire. It surely expresses a covert sympathy with the aims and objectives of jihad and an overt, if witless and sinister, hatred of the United States. If only this were the only symptom of that tendency.
Christopher Hitchens is a columnist for Vanity Fair. His most recent book is Thomas Jefferson: Author of America.
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