Who speaks for the poor military?
Ilana Bet-El
September 18, 2006 06:43 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ilana_betel/2006/09/pitfalls_for_the_mu=
ltinational.html
Multinational force commanders are not men to be envied. Besides the
more obvious task of running their command and attaining their military
objectives, often in a far flung corner of the globe, they also have to
do the equivalent of making bricks out of straw: make a multinational
mission, that is usually sewn together with a minimum of political will
by far removed diplomats, work on the ground. It is time to relieve
these soldiers of such policy responsibilities and place them firmly
back with the politicians - especially in light of developments in
Afghanistan and Lebanon.
The military commander has always had to work to the strategic goal of
the political level, but in the past this has generally meant a single
political level with a coherent goal. Such luxuries are not open to the
multinational commander. To make a mandate workable he must spend a
vast amount of time managing his disparate stakeholders: the capitals
of the nations from which the troops are drawn, including his own; the
authorizing body in the case of an international organization such as
the UN, the EU or Nato; and of course the various sides to the conflict
into which he is deployed. In addition there is the local and
international media to handle. If any of these relationships are
mismanaged, chances of success tend to plummet.
A brutal civil war, but not genocide
Jonathan Steele
September 18, 2006 07:18 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jonathan_steele/2006/09/sorry_george_cl=
ooney_but_the_l.html
An air of unreality, if not cant, surrounds the latest upsurge of calls
for UN troops to go into Sudan's western region of Darfur. The actor
George Clooney takes to the stage at the UN security council, pleading
for action. Tony Blair seizes on the issue to write letters to fellow
EU leaders. In cities around the world protesters hold a "global day
for Darfur" to warn of looming genocide. Is it really possible that
western governments, in spite of being burned by their interventions in
Iraq and Afghanistan, would use force against another Muslim state?
Groups in the west have long campaigned to have the government in
Khartoum replaced. In the US the Christian right and some of Israel's
friends portray it as an Islamic fundamentalist regime. Human rights
activists raise the issue of slavery to suggest that Arab raiders,
supported by the government, are routinely abducting Africans from the
south to use as human chattel. The Clinton administration listed Sudan
as a terrorist-supporting state because Osama bin Laden once lived
there.
Even popes have a right to be fallible
Andrew Brown
September 18, 2006 05:43 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/andrew_brown/2006/09/even_popes_have_a_=
right_to_be.html
The glorious thing about being a Catholic is the certainty. You know,
because the Pope says something, that it must be wrong; this blessed
assurance is redoubled if the Pope once went by the name of Joseph
Ratzinger. So Madeleine Bunting doesn't have to waste any energy
arguing that the Pope was wrong to say that violence should not be used
to convert people. She doesn't have to waste any time arguing that
Muslims shouldn't kill people to show that they are offended by being
told that they have used violence for religious ends. Least of all does
she have to try to work out what the Pope meant, since she knows that
he could not have meant well.
But for those of us who aren't Catholics, things are a bit more
complicated. I've heard Ratzinger lecture at Cambridge University (a
lecture boycotted by my Anglican host, who disapproved of disciplining
theologians). He really didn't seem to me then anything other than a
rather shy, German theology professor who thinks that people who
disagree with him are wrong. Well, professors do; popes, too. The rest
of us must somehow bear it. Most people - and the overwhelming majority
of Muslims - manage the pain without shooting nuns.
An insufficient apology
Anas Altikriti
September 18, 2006 04:43 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/anas_altikriti/2006/09/an_insufficient_=
apology.html
When Pope Benedict recently delivered a lecture and managed to find the
time and space to take a swipe at Islam, the Prophet Mohammed and
effectively every Muslim, he must have expected the kind of reaction
that followed across the Muslim world. If he hadn't, then he has either
been on another planet these last few years or he shouldn't be in the
high position he is.
Therefore, the cold reaction with which his so-called apology was met
did not come as a great surprise. A true and sincere apology would have
been to retract his remarks, however the Pope merely expressed regret
at how Muslims had been "offended" without actually apologising for the
quotation that he used in his lecture in Germany last week. In other
words, he was sorry that Muslims took it badly.
Cracks across the Atlantic
John Palmer
September 18, 2006 02:14 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_palmer/2006/09/can_blair_block_the=
_eu_on_iran.html
When even a former United States president can express, with something
approaching despair, his incredulity at "the subservient role which the
British government plays in respect of each and every initiative taken
by the Bush administration", one gets a pretty good idea of what the
verdict of history will be on Tony Blair's premiership.
In his interview on the BBC's Newsnight last week it was clear that
Jimmy Carter was thinking not just about Iraq but more generally about
the Middle East, including the growing division of opinion between the
EU and the Bush administration on how to handle dialogue with Iran on
the nuclear issue.
Uprooting torture
Conor Foley
September 18, 2006 01:12 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/conor_foley/2006/09/the_long_arm_of_the=
_law.html
"When torture begins to take root anywhere it is one of the first
indicators that the forces of ideological fanaticism and corruption are
in the ascendant, that the boundary between order and chaos is
dissolving. The task of an independent judiciary is to patrol this
boundary."
These were Jack Straw's words as foreign secretary, a few years ago,
when he launched a handbook entitled Combating Torture: A Manual for
Judges and Prosecutors, as part of an ongoing global anti-torture
initiative by the British government.
Pope and folly
Madeleine Bunting
September 18, 2006 11:51 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/madeleine_bunting/2006/09/post_393.html
A statement was read out in all Catholic churches in England yesterday
in which Cardinal Murphy O'Connor went to great lengths to distance
himself from the Pope's extraordinary remarks in his lecture last week.
It was, of course, diplomatically worded, claiming that the Pope had
not meant to offend Muslims by quoting the fourteenth century Byzantine
thinker, Manuel III Paleologues. But the thrust of its message was
clear: we want no part of this. These remarks were ill judged and
desperately destructive of the painfully slow and halting attempts
between Catholics and Muslims across the globe trying to rein back
ancient hostilities.
I was astonished. I've never seen the Catholic church respond so
rapidly to anything. Usually, a media storm produces a pastoral letters
years after the event; as the Vatican is fond of pointing out, its
thinking takes centuries - not in response to a global 24/7 media
culture. On this occasion, the enormity of the Pope's mistake seems to
have galvanised this slow thinking institution into rapid damage
limitation.
Chants, berets and banners for Darfur
Brian Brivati
September 18, 2006 10:35 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brian_brivati/2006/09/day_for_darfur.ht=
ml
The friendly crowd went through their chants on a warm morning in
central London and in cities all around the world: "United Nations to
Darfur!" "Stop genocide in Darfur!" "All Killers to ICC!" We wore our
blue berets and held our banners. When we arrived the crowd was mainly
African, many Sudanese asylum seekers and exiles, mostly men, nicely
dressed or wearing slogan-bearing T-shirts. They welcomed us, smiled at
my kids, shouted the chants.
As the enclosure filled the crowd became more mixed and more vocal. A
few familiar faces appeared. At one point we all sat down to watch a
film. Our blue flags fluttered in the breeze. An army jeep drove down
Cleveland Row - "Here comes the army!" someone quipped. The atmosphere
was both surreal, in that it felt like a stage set on which people were
playing the part of demonstrators, and entirely real, in that many of
the people around us had escaped to safety here.
One small step for neo-Nazis
Francis Sedgemore
September 18, 2006 09:49 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/francis_sedgemore/2006/09/german_neonaz=
is_poised_to_win.html
In elections held on Sunday, the neo-Nazi Nationaldemokratische Partei
Deutschlands (NPD) broke through the 5% barrier for electoral
representation in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a region of eastern Germany
suffering 20% unemployment and a host of other problems. It is of
concern, but given the support that the British National Party (BNP)
commands in certain parts of England, I wouldn't get too worried about
the development in Germany. It's not as if the NPD are poised to take
over an entire Land assembly, or even a parish council.
According to an article last week in the Times, NPD members control a
number of businesses in the region, but the article is rather vague on
the details. Are we talking about self-employed builders of a
right-wing persuasion who take on casual workers and apprentices, and
favour young lads who think like them? Or is it more serious, with
systemic employment bias affecting larger enterprises?
Sorry George Clooney, but the last thing Darfur needs is western troops
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1875502,00.html
The rebels, not Khartoum, scuppered this year's peace deal - the
solution has to be an expanded African Union force
Jonathan Steele
Tuesday September 19, 2006
The Guardian
An air of unreality, if not cant, surrounds the latest upsurge of calls
for UN troops to go into Sudan's western region of Darfur. The actor
George Clooney takes to the stage at the UN security council, pleading
for action. Tony Blair seizes on the issue to write letters to fellow
EU leaders. In cities around the world protesters hold a "global day
for Darfur" to warn of looming genocide. Is it really possible that
western governments, in spite of being burned by their interventions in
Iraq and Afghanistan, would use force against another Muslim state?
It's a jungle out there
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1875504,00.html
Chimps have learned the best way to cross a busy road. So why are
humans still fighting the zebra?
Joe Moran
Tuesday September 19, 2006
The Guardian
Why did the chimp cross the road? To provide an interesting case study,
of course. According to Road Crossing in Chimpanzees: A Risky Business,
an article in the latest issue of Current Biology, chimps in Guinea
have developed complex techniques for crossing busy roads, such as
moving in lines, with the dominant males at the front and rear.
That subspecies of the naked ape, the human pedestrian, has not quite
mastered this level of teamwork. True, there is safety in numbers in
the busiest areas of central London, where conditions approach what
Americans call "pedlock" (while irate bus drivers honk at them, naughty
people stream across roads in packs when the little red man is ordering
them to wait), but mostly pedestrians work alone, improvising their own
survival strategies.
Our verdict was ignored
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1875503,00.html
Two jurors from last year's ricin trial explain why they feel betrayed
by a decision to deport men they found not guilty
Tuesday September 19, 2006
The Guardian
When a buff envelope containing a jury service summons drops on the
doormat, most people can look forward to spending two weeks in a local
court. Our experience was different: in April last year we completed
seven months at the Old Bailey sitting on a terrorism case, the
so-called ricin trial. The crown alleged a conspiracy by Algerian men,
all loosely linked through the Finsbury Park mosque, to produce
poisons, one a deadly toxin called ricin. We found one guilty and four
not guilty. But there was a problem: despite hysteria in the media, no
ricin was found. And rather than accept the fact that they were not
conspirators, there was an assumption that those acquitted "got away
with it".
Return to the dark ages
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1875507,00.html
By drawing on medieval poison about Islam, the Pope has boosted Muslim
fears of a new crusade
Soumaya Ghannoushi
Tuesday September 19, 2006
The Guardian
The Pope's response to the anger his statements sparked in the Muslim
world was more offensive than the statements themselves. He apologised
not for what he said, but for Muslims' failure to grasp the intended
meaning.
That the Pope should have quoted from a Byzantine text on Islam is
hardly surprising. The line of continuity between Emanuel Paleologos's
conception of Islam - quoted in the papal speech - and Benedict's has
never been severed. The massive body of terms, images and narratives on
Islam which the church inherited from the middle ages survives intact.
There, Islam is depicted as a false creed propagated through violence
and promiscuity, with Muhammad as scoundrel, magician, heresiarch, and
precursor of the anti-Christ.
The denial industry
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1875587,00.html
The oil giant ExxonMobil gives money to scores of organisations that
claim the science on global warming is inconclusive - which it isn't.
It's a strategy that has set back action on climate change by a decade,
and it involves the same people who insist that passive smoking is
harmless, reveals George Monbiot in the first of three extracts from
his new book
Tuesday September 19, 2006
The Guardian
ExxonMobil is the world's most profitable corporation. Its sales now
amount to more than $1bn a day. It makes most of this money from oil,
and has more to lose than any other company from efforts to tackle
climate change. To safeguard its profits, ExxonMobil needs to sow doubt
about whether serious action needs to be taken on climate change. But
there are difficulties: it must confront a scientific consensus as
strong as that which maintains that smoking causes lung cancer or that
HIV causes Aids. So what's its strategy?
Villains of the Vatican
Peter Stanford on controversial popes through the ages
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1875590,00.html
Tuesday September 19, 2006
The Guardian
Popes have only officially been infallible since 1870. The tradition,
however, stretches back much further, and is part of Catholicism's
eternal efforts to depict its leader as a holy man with a hotline to
heaven; someone who is head and shoulders - in matters of faith and
morals - above the rest of us, as we fall prey to secular whims, sexual
urges and the blandishments of the devil.
So each new incumbent is, in theory, as good as hand-picked by God.
Which, unfortunately, means that even God himself is not infallible.
For some of the men he has anointed have, like Benedict XVI, a habit of
saying or doing the wrong thing, especially when it comes to their
relationships with other faiths.
The best thing about all those protests against the pope is the fresh
outbreak of moronic placards
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1875585,00.html
Marina Hyde
Tuesday September 19, 2006
The Guardian
With the Turkish dates on Pope Benedict's "Religion is the answer, not
the problem" tour looking shaky, the search is on for positives to draw
from the escalating row. It's what Jesus/ Mohammed/Moses/former
Coventry City goalkeeper David Icke would have wanted.
The first plus-point is the merchandising potential. Following the
pontiff's in-no-way-lunatic decision at the weekend to build on the
success of last week's Muslim-baiting lecture by bringing up that
business of the Jews killing his Lord, there is every reason to suspect
he is gathering material for some kind of holy war bloopers DVD. (Could
someone please stick a sock in his mouth before he lowers himself to
some waspish engagement with Shintoism? Big Six religions only, your
excellency!)
Pope has joined US crusade, says Iran
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,1875736,00.html
=B7 Response marks setback to 25 years of diplomacy
=B7 Morocco denies killing of Italian is linked to row
John Hooper in Rome
Tuesday September 19, 2006
The Guardian
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei yesterday accused the Pope of committing the
world's biggest Christian church to what he claimed was a "crusade"
launched by President Bush against Islam.
The Iranian leader's words represented a setback to more than 25 years
of Vatican diplomacy aimed at distancing Roman Catholicism from the
west many Muslims regard as hostile and decadent. In his first comment
on remarks on Islam made by Pope Benedict last week, the Ayatollah said
they formed "the latest link in the chain of a crusade against Islam
started by America's Bush".
Gaza: The children killed in a war the world doesn't want to know about
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1619227.ece
By Donald Macintyre In Rafah
Published: 19 September 2006
Nayef Abu Snaima says his 14-year-old cousin Jihad had been sitting on
the edge of an olive grove talking animatedly to him about what he
would do when he grew up when he was killed instantly by an Israeli
shell.
He says he clearly saw a bright flash next to the control tower of the
disused Gaza international airport, occupied by Israeli forces after
Cpl Gilad Shalit was seized by militants on 25 June. "I went two or
three steps and the missile landed," said Nayef, 24. "I thought I was
dying. I shouted 'La Ilaha Ila Allah' [There is no God but Allah]."
Pride in space as Iran cheers first Muslim's journey to the stars
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article1619249.ece
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 19 September 2006
From the steppes of Kazakhstan, a wealthy Iranian-American woman was
blasted off into space yesterday. In doing so, Anousheh Ansari set at
least two records =AD becoming the first female Muslim and the first
Iranian in orbit.
The 40-year-old millionaire who left Iran more than two decades ago and
who now lives in Dallas, accompanied a Russian cosmonaut and a US
astronaut inside the Soyuz TMA-9 on a flight to the International Space
Station (ISS). She is due to spend 11 days there before returning with
the station's current crew.
Koizumi's heir apparent worries Japan's neighbours with his hawkish
agenda
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article1619203.ece
By David McNeill in Tokyo
Published: 19 September 2006
Japan's most important election in years will not be especially
democratic; it will be closed to the general public and we already know
the winner. But, for better or worse, by the end of this month the
world's second-largest economy will have a new leader, and he is
already causing political waves.
Tomorrow, a million members of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party
select a new party head who will, thanks to the LDP's dominance of the
Diet, step into the giant shoes of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
next week. The public will not have their say until a general election
next year.
Vatican experts say Pope 'unrepentant'
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article1619215.ece
By Peter Popham in Rome
Published: 19 September 2006
As protests against the Pope continued to rumble around the Muslim
world yesterday, Catholics began asking themselves if this highly
intelligent man can really have been so crass as to have ignited the
passions of millions of Muslims without realising that he was doing it.
If the alternative version is more credible - that he knew exactly what
he was doing - then the next question arises: why? The gloomy
conclusion of some Vatican experts is that there was no inconsistency
in the Pope's choice of the words "inhuman and evil" - quoted from the
Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaeologus - to characterise Islam. Such a
negative view, they say, is consistent with all his words and actions
with regard to Islam.
Stephen King: Globalisation requires the greater good to be put first
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/comment/article1616726.ece
A powerful argument in favour of globalisation is that it raises living
standards
Published: 18 September 2006
Few of us can claim to be completely independent. With the exception of
the odd hermit, we are social animals. Our social lives are often
informal: meeting friends, going out for dinner or popping down to the
pub. On other occasions, there's a bit more formality: office relations
probably ought to fall into this category (although you can never
completely rule out the inappropriate encounter next to - or sometimes
on - the photocopier).
But there are other social gatherings which are neither formal nor
informal. Clubs and societies fall into this category. We join a club -
and leave a club - through a combination of our own freewill and the
club's willingness to accept us. Once we're in the club, though, we
either abide by the rules, ignore the rules (in which case, we might be
thrown out) or try to change the rules.
Oriana Fallaci
http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article1619228.ece
Journalist who relished controversy, whether in her interviews with
world leaders or her attacks on Islam
Published: 19 September 2006
Oriana Fallaci was arguably the most extraordinary journalist Italy has
ever produced. Her tough character was formed by early years helping
her Partisan parents defy the Germans occupying Florence and enable
Allied soldiers to escape. In person beautiful, petite, finely made,
through a continuous effort of will she turned herself into a human
tank - a "tiny journalistic Cruise missile", as someone said of her
during the 1991 Gulf war.
With her torrents of vivid, sublimely subjective, flamingly emotional
prose she became Italy's most famous war correspondent by far, turning
her long dispatches into books that sold by the million. Then she
turned her attention to the leaders of the world and within a few years
became renowned internationally as the one journalist who could secure
interviews with leaders who never gave interviews to anyone.
A Challenge, Not a Crusade
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/opinion/19allen.html
By JOHN L. ALLEN Jr.
Roman Catholicism's more critical posture toward Islamic fundamentalism
could either push Islam toward reform or set off a global "clash of
civilizations" - or, perhaps, both.
Canadians Fault U.S. for Its Role in Torture Case
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/world/americas/19canada.html?ref=3Dworld&=
pagewanted=3Dall
By IAN AUSTEN
Four years after he was deported to Syria, where he was tortured, a
government panel exonerated a Canadian man of any ties to terrorism.
Soccer Skirmish Turns Spotlight on Brazil's Racial Divide
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/world/americas/19brazil.html?ref=3Dworld&=
pagewanted=3Dall
By LARRY ROHTER
After a police officer called a black referee a "monkey," a lesson
in the complexities of Brazil's racial politics followed.
Iran's Freeze on Enrichment Could Wait, France Suggests
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/world/middleeast/19iran.html?ref=3Dworld
By ELAINE SCIOLINO
France's president suggested that Iran would not have to freeze major
nuclear activities until formal negotiations began.
Pope's Regrets Over Statement Fail to Quiet a Storm of Protests
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/world/europe/19pope.html?ref=3Dworld
By IAN FISHER
Many Muslims noted that the pope had said only that he was sorry for
the reaction that fanned out across the Muslim world.
On India's Despairing Farms, a Plague of Suicide
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/world/asia/19india.html?ref=3Dworld&pagew=
anted=3Dall
By SOMINI SENGUPTA
India's economy may be soaring, but a struggling agricultural
industry remains its Achilles' heel. In 2003, 17,107 Indian farmers
committed suicide.
It's Muslim Boy Meets Girl, Yes, but Please Don't Call It Dating
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/us/19dating.html?ref=3Dus&pagewanted=3Dall
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
The largest annual Muslim conference in North America, which was held
in Chicago, hosted wildly popular speed dating sessions called the
"matrimonial banquet."
Bias Is Hurting Women in Science, Panel Reports
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/science/19women.html?ref=3Dus
By CORNELIA DEAN
Women in science and engineering are hindered by bias and "outmoded
institutional structures" in academia, an expert panel reported.
Confident of Sweep, State Democrats Set Sights on Pataki and Bush
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/nyregion/19gov.html?ref=3Dpolitics
By PATRICK HEALY
The leaders of the New York Democratic Party are so confident of
outright victory that they are focusing on an electoral rebuke of
President Bush and Gov. George Pataki.
Union That Backed Lieberman in Primary Now Endorses Lamont
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/nyregion/19lamont.html?ref=3Dpolitics
By JENNIFER MEDINA
The switch by one of the state's largest unions showed that Ned
Lamont has chipped away at Senator Joseph I. Lieberman's union
support
Critics of War Spare Senator in Close Race
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/us/politics/19cantwell.html?ref=3Dpolitic=
s&pagewanted=3Dall
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
Senator Maria Cantwell's campaign appears to be benefiting from a
cold dose of pragmatism among antiwar Democrats.
I=2EM.F. Votes to Enhance Power of China and Others
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/business/worldbusiness/19fund.html?ref=3D=
business
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
Member states of the International Monetary Fund voted to adopt a
disputed plan to modify the fund's power structure.
Enlisting Science's Lessons to Entice More Shoppers to Spend More
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/science/19sell.html?ref=3Dscience&pagewan=
ted=3Dall
By KENNETH CHANG
More and more retailers are employing rigorous scientific techniques to
improve their bottom line.
Canadian Was Falsely Accused, Panel Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/18/AR200609180=
0883_pf.html
After Tip From Ally, U.S. Sent Muslim to Syria for Questioning
By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, September 19, 2006; A01
TORONTO, Sept. 18 -- Canadian intelligence officials passed false
warnings and bad information to American agents about a Muslim Canadian
citizen, after which U.S. authorities secretly whisked him to Syria,
where he was tortured, a judicial report found Monday.
The report, released in Ottawa, was the result of a 2 1/2-year inquiry
that represented one of the first public investigations into mistakes
made as part of the United States' "extraordinary rendition" program,
which has secretly spirited suspects to foreign countries for
interrogation by often brutal methods.
Torture Is Torture
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/18/AR200609180=
0995.html
Bush's 'Program' Disgraces All Americans
By Eugene Robinson
Tuesday, September 19, 2006; Page A21
I wish I could turn to cheerier matters, but I just can't get past this
torture issue -- the fact that George W. Bush, the president of the
United States of America, persists in demanding that Congress give him
the right to torture anyone he considers a "high-value" terrorist
suspect. The president of the United States. Interrogation by torture.
This just can't be happening.
It's past time to stop mincing words. The Decider, or maybe we should
now call him the Inquisitor, sticks to anodyne euphemisms. He speaks of
"alternative" questioning techniques, and his umbrella term for the
whole shop of horrors is "the program." Of course, he won't fully
detail the methods that were used in the secret CIA prisons -- and who
knows where else? -- but various sources have said they have included
not just the infamous "waterboarding," which the administration
apparently will reluctantly forswear, but also sleep deprivation,
exposure to cold, bombardment with ear-splitting noise and other
assaults that cause not just mental duress but physical agony. That is
torture, and to call it anything else is a lie.
We Need a Real Dialogue
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/18/AR200609180=
0993.html
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006; Page A21
I was tempted to defend Pope Benedict XVI's comments about Islam on the
grounds that we journalists always profess to admire leaders who take
risks to say what they really think. In a lecture last week in Germany,
Benedict said what he really thought.
The irony is that the pontiff's comments came in an address that took
Islam and all other religious faiths more seriously than do many of the
pope's secular critics. The whole point of the talk, after all, was to
defend the rationality of faith in God.
Enough Apologies
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/18/AR200609180=
0992.html
By Anne Applebaum
Tuesday, September 19, 2006; Page A21
Already, angry Palestinian militants have assaulted seven West Bank and
Gaza churches, destroying two of them. In Somalia, gunmen shot dead an
elderly Italian nun. Radical clerics from Qatar to Qom have called,
variously, for a "day of anger" or for worshipers to "hunt down" the
pope and his followers. From Turkey to Malaysia, Muslim politicians
have condemned the pope and called his apology "insufficient." And all
of this because Benedict XVI, speaking at the University of Regensburg,
quoted a Byzantine emperor who, more than 600 years ago, called Islam a
faith "spread by the sword." We've been here before, of course. Similar
protests were sparked last winter by cartoon portrayals of Muhammad in
the Danish press. Similar apologies resulted, though Benedict's is more
surprising than those of the Danish government. No one, apparently, can
remember any pope, not even the media-friendly John Paul II,
apologizing for anything in such specific terms: not for the
Inquisition, not for the persecution of Galileo and certainly not for a
single comment made to an academic audience in an unimportant German
city.
But Western reactions to Muslim "days of anger" have followed a
familiar pattern, too. Last winter, some Western newspapers defended
their Danish colleagues, even going so far as to reprint the cartoons
-- but others, including the Vatican, attacked the Danes for giving
offense. Some leading Catholics have now defended the pope -- but
others, no doubt including some Danes, have complained that his
statement should have been better vetted, or never given at all. This
isn't surprising: By definition, the West is not monolithic.
Left-leaning journalists don't identify with right-leaning colleagues
(or right-leaning Catholic colleagues), and vice versa. Not all
Christians, let alone all Catholics -- even all German Catholics --
identify with the pope either, and certainly they don't want to defend
his every scholarly quotation.
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