The show must go on
Soumaya Ghannoushi
September 28, 2006 06:05 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/soumaya_ghannoushi_/2006/09/mozarts_ido=
meneo_should_not_ha.html
I never thought this could be possible, but I agree with Angela Merkel.
The Deutsche Oper should not have suspended its staging of Mozart's
Idomeneo because of the scene depicting the severed heads of the
Buddha, the Greco-Roman god Neptune, Jesus, and prophet Muhammad
(interestingly, Moses' head was missing from the gruesome procession).
When the controversial Danish cartoons were published last year, I saw
them as a symptom of rising Islamophobia in Europe, particularly as
they appeared in a rightwing paper under a rightwing Danish government
notorious for its hostility to religious and ethnic minorities. And
when a few weeks ago the Pope quoted a Byzantine emperor equating the
Muslim faith with evil and inhumanity, I wrote that this was
unacceptable coming from the representative of the largest religious
institution in the world.
Warning: opinion ahead
Michael Kinsley
September 28, 2006 06:38 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/michael_kinsley/2006/09/post_451.html
According to a column by its "Public Editor" (aka ombudsman, or
Official Busybody), the New York Times has been asking itself whether
it does enough to distinguish between fact and opinion in its pages. A
"newsroom committee on credibility" looked into the matter and decided
that what was needed was a "News/Opinion Divide Committee." The nine
lucky editors on this committee "worked for months" to come up with a
new system for helping Times readers who can't figure out that
"President Bush flew to Texas yesterday" is a fact, whereas "President
Bush is a bozo" is an opinion.
No Times reporter would ever dare write that President Bush is a bozo,
anyway. What he or she would write is that according to a professor of
cognitive sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, President
Bush is a bozo. Or that according to sources deep within the
administration, who spoke only on the condition that they not be
identified, President Bush is a bozo. And that turns the contention
back into a fact - I mean, it's a fact that the guy did say it - so it
may still appear unmolested by a lot of graphic semaphores.
How not to operate in space
Tim Radford
September 28, 2006 04:11 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/tim_radford/2006/09/how_not_to_operate_=
in_space.html
Think of it as the ultimate flying doctor service: surgery in space.
French surgeons from Bordeaux led the world by conducting a routine
operation in free fall while ambitious British space doctors are still
grounded and likely to stay so.
There is a very serious case for space medicine and a bunch of
biomedical boffins and surgeons with very high hopes are to make it
again this weekend in Leicester at their third such conference. They do
so because space is a dangerous place. Any astronaut selected for a
mission is by definition healthy and fit to a degree most of us would
consider absurd, but in the first minutes in microgravity he (it could
be a she but for grammatical simplicity let's assume it is a man) is
quite likely to be a sick man, and if he stays up there long enough, a
very sick man. One astronaut in two will suffer giddiness and nausea,
because that's what happens when you don't know which way is up.
When a green card turns red
Stephen O'Shea
September 28, 2006 02:58 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/stephen_oshea/2006/09/green_card_turns_=
red.html
The American border guard at a Quebec-Vermont crossing handed me back
my green card and said in a stern voice, "Lose this card, mister, and
..=2E. your ...world ... will ... change."
My daughters, both Americans, badgered me with questions as we drove
away from the checkpoint, along the lines of: "Was he being mean,
daddy?" My wife, born in Pennsylvania, sighed, "Just a jerk. Forget
about it."
Making every vote count
Ben Rogers
September 29, 2006 09:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ben_rogers/2006/09/labours_conversion_t=
o_voting_r.html
Is Labour slowly coming round to the case for electoral reform? The
most surprising thing for me in this year's Labour conference so far
has been the announcement by Jack Straw, long an ardent defender of the
electoral status quo, that he now supports a modest degree of reform in
the form of the Alternative Vote. (Not that surprising, I know, but
this is modern politics!).
By my calculations this means that all the leading candidates or
possible candidates for the position of deputy leader - Jack Straw,
Peter Hain, Harriet Harman, Hilary Benn, Alan Johnson - support either
the Alternative Vote or the Alternative Vote Plus, as recommended by
Roy Jenkins and his commission. Even Jon Cruddas, who has just
announced that he will run, has expressed his doubts about the present
system on the grounds that Labour's dominance in his Barking
constituency means voters have no reason to turn out.
Evolution on the campaign trail
Rory O'Connor
September 28, 2006 12:26 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/rory_oconnor/2006/09/the_evolution_of_p=
olitical_cam.html
I wasn't aware that this was advertising week (I thought every week was
advertising week) until I received an invitation from Mark McKinnon to
attend a panel discussion on "the evolution of presidential campaign
advertising". As chief media advisor to George Bush, McKinnon directed
the president's advertising effort for both the 2000 and 2004
campaigns, and he has committed to playing a similar role in 2008 for
Senator John McCain. Nevertheless, McKinnon remains a key member of
Bush's small circle of top strategists, one of what a leading trade
journal described as "a handful of players behind every big decision,
consensus or roadblock in Washington ... putting a unique, sometimes
hidden stamp on the outcome of today's debates".
McKinnon was joined at the USA Today-sponsored Pulse of America event,
moderated by that paper's Washington bureau chief Susan Page, by his
Democratic counterpart David Axelrod. Once a political writer for the
Chicago Tribune, Axelrod moved on to develop media and communication
strategies for a host of clients including John Edwards, Hillary
Clinton and Barack Obama. Like McKinnon, Axelrod is a seasoned
professional considered by many to be at or near the top of the media
strategist pile.
The book was closed too soon on peace in Dafur
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1883560,00.html
Restoring stability is a long-term task of nine parts politics and one
part force. We need fair representation and time
Alex de Waal
Friday September 29, 2006
The Guardian
There is still a chance to protect Darfur's civilians from a further
round of violence, hunger and displacement, but only if government and
rebels resume peace negotiations. This means stepping back from
rhetorical confrontation and empty threats of military action. Sudan's
President Omar al-Bashir knows that US and British saber-rattling is
moralistic hyperventilation, and he has called their bluff. Finding a
solution hinges on a sober assessment of what is practical, not on
making Darfur a guinea pig for "the duty to protect" or a test case for
a new global moral consciousness.
Blair's legacy of poison
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1883772,00.html
A new Labour leader can rebuild support, even among Muslims, if there
is a change in foreign policy
Anas Altikriti
Friday September 29, 2006
The Guardian
When a US intelligence report found that the Iraq war and occupation
had fuelled terrorism, it confirmed what most people had argued from
the start. The fact that President Bush first attempted to conceal this
report and then rubbished its central thesis came as no surprise. But
Tony Blair's insistence in his speech at the Labour conference that
such claims amount to "enemy propaganda" should arouse serious alarm.
Since last year's London bombings, the prime minister and his allies
have made ever more clear their view that any attempt to link the
bombings to Britain's foreign policy is akin to an act of treason.
Increasingly, the message has gone out that such talk is the preserve
of people with dodgy allegiances. That is a line which makes enemies
out of most British people, not just Muslims.
They cry, pray to Bush and wash out the devil - welcome to Jesus Camp
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1883730,00.html
A documentary on evangelical Christian children's camps has caused
uproar in the US
Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Friday September 29, 2006
The Guardian
The children at the Kids on Fire summer camp are intent as they pray
over a cardboard cutout of President George Bush. They raise their
hands in the air and sway, eyes closed, as they join the chant for
"righteous judges". Tears stream down their faces as they are told that
they are "phonies" and "hypocrites" and must wash their hands in
bottled water to drive out the devil.
The documentary film Jesus Camp follows three children at the Kids on
Fire Pentecostal summer camp in the small city of Devil's Lake, North
Dakota.
Bush claims victory as Senate approves terror suspects bill
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1771873.ece
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
Published: 29 September 2006
The Republican-controlled Senate is set to follow the House of
Representatives in approving new rules for the detention and trial of
foreign terrorist suspects, in what would be a significant pre-election
victory for President George Bush.
As the day progressed, Senators beat back primarily Democratic
amendments before a final vote. The most serious remaining obstacle was
a proposed amendment by a Republican - Arlen Specter, chairman of the
Judiciary Committee - that would give suspects the right to challenge
their detention in federal court and thus, says Mr Specter, observe the
800-year-old principle of habeas corpus.
Iraq policy has led to Blair's downfall, says top British UN official
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article1771864.ece
By Paul Vallely
Published: 29 September 2006
Tony Blair's policy in Iraq is what, ultimately, fatally undermined his
position as Prime Minister and forced him to step down, said the deputy
secretary general of the United Nations, Mark Malloch Brown, yesterday.
He said the Prime Minister's failure to call for an immediate ceasefire
during the Israeli bombing of Lebanon was the final nail in his coffin,
triggering the final rebellion by many previous loyalists, and he
suggested that Mr Blair had learnt no lessons from his earlier
unquestioning support of the United States.
Genetic 'search engine' will let doctors match drugs to diseases
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article1771852.ece
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Published: 29 September 2006
A powerful tool for finding the right drug to treat a particular
disease has been invented by scientists who believe it could
revolutionise the way new medicines are developed.
The researchers have likened the approach to an internet search engine
which is able to sift through masses of data to find the best match
between the attributes of a drug and the symptoms of a disease.
The approach has been called a "connectivity map" because it directs
scientists towards the connections that can link drugs to various
diseases, said Todd Golub, director of the cancer programme at the
Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and
Harvard University. "The connectivity map works much like a Google
search to discover connections among drugs and diseases," said Dr
Golub. "These connections are notoriously difficult to find in part
because drugs and diseases are characterised in completely different
scientific languages."
Democrats seek advantage
http://www.economist.com/agenda/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D7960493
Sep 27th 2006 | NEW YORK
From Economist.com
A report by America's top spies suggests the war in Iraq is encouraging
terrorism. It marks a chance for Democrats-finally-to agree how to
fight for electoral advantage on foreign policy
THE WAR in Iraq is inspiring new terrorists and worsening the threat to
America. This notion has long been considered self-evident by opponents
of the war in Iraq. Now it has been given a stamp of authority by
America's 16 spy agencies in a partially-published "National
Intelligence Estimate". But can the Democrats, traditionally seen as
weaker on security, make political gains before November's
congressional elections?
Until now, the Democrats have been tripped up by Iraq. Many grassroots
supporters and activists hate the war. So do leaders like Howard Dean
(head of the national committee) and Nancy Pelosi (the top Democrat in
the House of Representatives). But many prominent Democrats supported
the invasion of Iraq, including Hillary Clinton, who is likely to run
for president in 2008. The party as a whole is torn between those who
see near civil-war in Iraq as an obvious target for attacking gung-ho
George Bush and, on the other side, its would-be presidents, who need
to look tough on terrorism and supportive of the armed forces. Neither
wing has fully prevailed.
In hostile territory
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D7971109
Sep 28th 2006 | MARYVILLE, TENNESSEE AND TYSONS CORNER, VIRGINIA
From The Economist print edition
Can the Democrats make gains in the heavily Republican South? A look at
two Senate races, in Tennessee and Virginia
SOME audiences are easier than others. The students at Maryville
College are as liberal as you will find in eastern Tennessee, so Harold
Ford, a Democrat running for the Senate, has no trouble wowing them.
He's young, clever and says the government should pay for college
tuition. After a sunny speech, the audience's questions are mostly
either friendly or lovestruck. "Mr Ford, will you marry me?" asks
one girl, just out of the candidate's earshot.
The rest of Tennessee is a bit more conservative than Maryville
College. As Mr Ford once said, "The national image of the Democratic
Party does not sell well in the South." So he is running as far from
his party as he credibly can. At the Kiwanis Club nearby, where several
members are boycotting his speech simply because he is a Democrat, Mr
Ford boasts that he has never voted for an unbalanced budget, that he
would never hire an illegal immigrant and that he gets "jumped on"
a little by his own party because he goes to church a lot and loves
Jesus.
Looping the loop
http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D7963608
Sep 28th 2006
From The Economist print edition
A new "theory of everything" is gaining ground
PHYSICISTS like everything neat and tidy. They assume that the universe
must be governed by a single set of rules and are thus disturbed that,
at the moment, they have to rely on two sets. One, called quantum
mechanics, describes the small, fundamental particles of which matter
consists and the forces by which those particles interact. The other,
called general relativity, describes the force of gravity, which holds
big objects together.
Reconciling these two universal descriptions has exercised some of
physics' most brilliant minds, but has yet to provide an uncontested
result. Until recently, the widespread expectation was that some
version of an idea called string theory would prevail. But string
theory has been around for decades without delivering the goods, and
that failure has encouraged the protagonists of an alternative
explanation to push themselves forward.
Yen and yang
http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D7975056
Sep 28th 2006 | HONG KONG
From The Economist print edition
China-bashers may soon take aim at the yen, the world's most mispriced
currency
WHICH country has the world's most undervalued currency? Most people
would answer China. Yet by many measures the Japanese yen is now
cheaper than the Chinese yuan. It cannot be long before America and
Europe put Japan in the dock, alongside China, and accuse it of keeping
its currency unfairly low.
Until this year the yen's weakness was easy to explain: since 2001 the
Bank of Japan (BoJ) had been printing loads of money in order to defeat
deflation. An increased supply of yen relative to that of other
currencies pushed down its price. But the yen's softness this year is a
puzzle. Since the BoJ abandoned "quantitative easing" in March,
Japan's monetary base has withered. Deflation has gone away, and in
July the BoJ raised interest rates, which had been stuck at zero for
five years. Furthermore, Japan had a whopping current-account surplus
of $165 billion in the year to July (the latest figure for China, for
2005, is only $161 billion, although it is expected to rise in 2006).
In many respects, the yen should be climbing.
The world according to Ch=E1vez
http://www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D7968369
Sep 28th 2006 | CARACAS AND WASHINGTON, DC
From The Economist print edition
Venezuela's bid for a UN Security Council seat has divided Latin
America
HE MAY give the impression of being the clown prince of world politics,
but there is often calculation behind Hugo Ch=E1vez's verbal fireworks.
So it was with his speech to the United Nations General Assembly
earlier this month, in which he denounced George Bush as "the
devil" and the "tyrannical president of the world", and plugged
an anti-imperialist tract by Noam Chomsky, a far-left American
academic. The speech brought criticism of Mr Ch=E1vez from former
friends in the Democratic Party in the United States, but it was not
aimed at them. Mr Ch=E1vez is a man with two elections to win.
In December, he will seek another six-year term as Venezuela's
president by claiming that his "revolution" is under threat from
the United States. But the vote uppermost in his mind comes in
mid-October, when Venezuela hopes to win a rotating seat on the UN
Security Council assigned to Latin America. Rather than representing
the region's interests, as is customary, Mr Ch=E1vez wants to use the
seat to "radically oppose the violent pressure that the empire [ie,
the United States] exercises in the world".
Network navigator
http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D7963651
Sep 28th 2006
From The Economist print edition
Neuroscientists now have an atlas of which genes are active in the
brain
MENTION the words "billionaire" and "Microsoft" in the same
sentence, and the mind turns naturally to the name William Henry Gates
III. But Bill Gates's original accomplice, Paul Allen, is not short of
a dollar, either. Like Mr Gates, Mr Allen has devoted part of his
fortune to charity. But whereas Mr Gates's billions are combating
various diseases that plague poor countries, Mr Allen's cash has been
focused on a single project. The full title of his organisation is the
Allen Institute for Brain Science, and the project-just
completed-is an atlas of the brain.
The brain is the most complex organ in the body. Indeed, it could be
argued that it is the most complex object in the known universe, and it
is only recently that tools sophisticated enough to examine it in
detail have been developed. The Allen Institute has used one of these
tools, known as in-situ hybridisation, to look at the activity in the
brain of almost every gene in the genome. The result is available to
all at www.brain-map.org.
Mitt Romney's problem
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D7971009
Sep 28th 2006
From The Economist print edition
Religious prejudice may yet undo the Republicans' latest favourite
YOU can say what you want against American politics. You can call it
corrupt, vulgar, interminable, and boringly limited to two behemoth
parties. But you cannot accuse it of lacking in drama. The mid-term
elections are still a month away, but some of the most intriguing
action is taking place in the race for the presidency. Mitt Romney, the
governor of Massachusetts, is making a concerted bid to seize the
mantle as the leader of "the Republican wing of the Republican
Party".
Mr Romney is a scarily perfect presidential candidate. He has handsome
looks-a mixture of Ronald Reagan and JFK, according to fans-and
fearsome intelligence. He graduated from both Harvard Law School, *****
laude, and Harvard Business School in the top 5% of his class. He is a
Republican governor of liberal Taxachusetts, a sprig of a powerful
mid-western political dynasty, and is much admired as a businessman.
But Mitt has one big problem: Mormonism. Hence one of the liveliest
debates on the right: can a Mormon win the presidency?
Living a Second Life
http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D7963538
Sep 28th 2006 | SAN FRANCISCO
From The Economist print edition
A Californian firm has built a virtual online world like no other. Its
population is growing and its economy is thriving. Now politicians and
advertisers are visiting
PETER YELLOWLEES, a professor of psychiatry at the University of
California, Davis, has been teaching about schizophrenia for 20 years,
but says that he was never really able to explain to his students just
how their patients suffer. So he went online, downloaded some free
software and entered Second Life. This is a "metaverse" (ie,
metaphysical universe), a three-dimensional world whose users, or
"residents", can create and be anything they want. Mr Yellowlees
created hallucinations. A resident might walk through a virtual
hospital ward, and a picture on the wall would suddenly flash the word
"shitface". The floor might fall away, leaving the person to walk
on stepping stones above the clouds. An in-world television set would
change from showing an actual speech by Bob Hawke, Australia's former
prime minister, into Mr Hawke shouting, "Go and kill yourself, you
wretch!" A reflection in a mirror might have bleeding eyes and die.
When Mr Yellowlees invited, as part of a trial, Second Life's public
into the ward, 73% of the visitors said afterwards that it "improved
[their] understanding of schizophrenia." Mr Yellowlees then went
further. For about $300 a month, he leases an island in Second Life,
where he has built a clinic that looks exactly like the real one in
Sacramento where many of his students practise. He gives his students
"avatars", or online personas, so they can attend his lectures
inside Second Life and then experience hallucinations. "It's so
powerful that some get quite upset," says Mr Yellowlees.
Moscow mourning
http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D7939660
Sep 21st 2006
From The Economist print edition
AS MILITARY epics go, Hitler's lightning assault on Moscow in June 1941
and the desperate but successful defence of the Russian capital that
winter can hardly be matched. It has an able chronicler in Sir Rodric
Braithwaite, who, as British ambassador to the city from 1988-92,
witnessed the decline of the Soviet Union and the birth of democratic
Russia. His book, which came out in Britain in the spring, will be
published in America at the end of this month.
Sir Rodric's affection for Russia, and his extensive network of friends
there, are the basis for the book. He creates a mosaic of eyewitness
accounts, many from people still living, which brings across well the
surreal complacency of the days leading up to the war, when Stalin
forbade his generals from preparing any defence, the panic that
followed, and the gradual recovery of an effective, meatgrinding
military machine.
A movable nuclear feast
Nasrin Alavi
September 29, 2006 09:42 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/nasrin_alavi/2006/09/nuclear_iran.html
On Wednesday while the EU and Iran met in Berlin for nuclear talks the
Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, completely ruled out a freeze
of its uranium enrichment programme. Six world powers have offered Iran
a range of incentives to stop enrichment or face sanctions.
He also told the gathering of army and Basij officials that western
powers were asking Iran to "pretend to suspend uranium enrichment". He
added that: "During negotiations they tell us to - if even for a day,
using an excuse of technical problems - suspend uranium enrichment, so
that we can continue with negotiations."
Dawkins needs to show some doubt
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1883586,00.html
Scientists work in a field full of uncertainties. So how can some be so
sure God doesn't exist? asks Stephen Unwin
Friday September 29, 2006
The Guardian
I greatly enjoyed Joan Bakewell's review of Richard Dawkins' latest
book, The God Delusion (Judgment day, September 23). "He takes on all
comers," she says. "Aquinas's five 'proofs', Pascal's wager (meant as a
joke, surely), even Stephen Unwin's probability of God, whose use of
Bayes' theorem to demonstrate the probability of God Dawkins scathingly
dismisses as 'quite agreeably funny'."
During my unhurried descent from the elation of being targeted in such
company, I realised that, as the only one of the three still alive, it
fell upon me to respond. It is clear that on the question of God's
existence Dawkins comes down firmly on the side of certainty. His
dismissal of Pascal's wager (which is that, given the uncertainty, one
has everything to gain and nothing to lose by belief in God) is a stark
indication of his commitment to certainty.
Iraq Report Is Due in '07; Skeptics Want to See It Now
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/28/washington/28intel.html?ref=3Dmiddleeast
By MARK MAZZETTI
Democrats contend that the White House is deliberately withholding a
document on security in Iraq because of what could be bleak
conclusions.
Book Says Bush Ignored Urgent Warning on Iraq
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/29/washington/29account.html?ref=3Dus&pagewa=
nted=3Dall
By DAVID E. SANGER
A new book by Bob Woodward, the Washington Post reporter and author,
describes a White House riven by dysfunction and division over the war.
Bush Attacks Democrats Over Iraq and Terror
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/29/us/politics/29bush.html?ref=3Dpolitics
By JIM RUTENBERG
President Bush's speech telegraphed the start of the last, intensive
phase of the election season for the White House.
Democrats See Strength in Bucking Bush
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/29/us/politics/29assess.html?ref=3Dpolitics
By CARL HULSE
The Senate vote on the detainee bill shows that party leaders believe
the president's power to wield national security as a political issue
is diminished.
Democrat Ahead in New York G.O.P. Areas, Poll Finds
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/29/nyregion/29york.html?ref=3Dpolitics&pagew=
anted=3Dall
By MICHAEL COOPER and MARJORIE CONNELLY
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is making inroads in Republican
strongholds and on traditional Republican issues, according to a new
Times/CBS News poll.
House Approves Power for Warrantless Wiretaps
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/29/washington/29nsa.html?ref=3Dpolitics
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
The House approved the surveillance measure after rejecting efforts by
Democrats and some Republicans to impose greater restrictions on the
wiretapping authority.
Senate Approves Broad New Rules to Try Detainees
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/29/washington/29detain.html?pagewanted=3Dall
By KATE ZERNIKE
The bill, approved 65 to 34, establishes far-reaching new rules on the
treatment of terrorism suspects and is expected to go to the president
by week's end.
On Campus, Finding Face Time in a Virtual Age
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/28/garden/28co-op.html?ref=3Deducation&pagew=
anted=3Dall
By GINIA BELLAFANTE
College students rediscover a model of living popular in the 1960's.
Faster Pace by China on Rise in Currency
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/29/business/worldbusiness/29yuan.html?ref=3D=
business&pagewanted=3Dall
By KEITH BRADSHER and STEVEN R. WEISMAN
China dramatically stepped up the appreciation of its currency,
allowing it to push through an important level against the dollar for
the first time.
Iran's Uranium Glitch
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR200609280=
1453.html
Technical Troubles Offer Time for Diplomacy
By David Ignatius
Friday, September 29, 2006; Page A21
Intelligence analysts believe that Iran is encountering technical
difficulties in mastering the complex process of uranium enrichment.
That means the West may have a bit more time than previously expected
to pursue a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear standoff.
The problem, according to intelligence officials, is that the
centrifuges that are supposed to enrich uranium are overheating. Some
are breaking down and must be replaced. As a result, Iran has not
ramped up its enrichment effort as quickly as analysts had expected.
Why Bill Clinton Pushed Back
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR200609280=
1454.html
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Friday, September 29, 2006; Page A21
Bill Clinton's eruption on "Fox News Sunday" last weekend over
questions about his administration's handling of terrorism was a long
time coming and has political implications that go beyond this fall's
elections.
By choosing to intervene in the terror debate in a way that no one
could miss, Clinton forced an argument about the past that had up to
now been largely a one-sided propaganda war waged by the right. The
conservative movement understands the political value of controlling
the interpretation of history. Now its control is finally being
contested.
Unraveling Allen
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR200609280=
1456.html
By Eugene Robinson
Friday, September 29, 2006; Page A21
Boy, talk about stepping in a pile of macaca.
Every political campaign frog-marches the candidate through a process
of self-discovery, but this is getting ridiculous. Sen. George Allen of
Virginia was supposed to coast to reelection this November, then start
polishing his cowboy boots for a presidential run. Instead the
political world is asking aloud whether he's remotely ready for prime
time -- and the senator himself has got to be pondering questions of a
more existential nature.
Bush's Conception Conflict
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR200609280=
1457.html
By Michael Kinsley
Friday, September 29, 2006; Page A21
It was, I believe, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) who first made the
excellent, bitter and terribly unfair joke about conservatives who
believe in a right to life that begins at conception and ends at birth.
This joke has been adapted for use against various Republican
politicians ever since. In the case of President Bush, though, it
appears to be literally true.
Of Course Iraq Made It Worse
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR200609280=
1455.html
By Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon
Friday, September 29, 2006; Page A21
The declassified judgments from the National Intelligence Estimate on
terrorism caused a stir in the political world this week, but for most
-- we would guess almost all -- scholars of jihadist terrorism, they
are largely uncontroversial. The war in Iraq, the lack of reform in the
Muslim world and anger at its endemic corruption and injustice, the
pervasiveness of anti-Western sentiment -- all these have long been
identified as major drivers of radical Islamist terror.
Religious-Right Voter Guides Facing Challenge From Left
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR200609280=
1664.html
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 29, 2006; Page A05
A new group called Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good said
yesterday that it will distribute at least 1 million voter guides
before the Nov. 7 elections, emphasizing church teachings on war,
poverty and social justice as well as on abortion, contraception and
homosexuality.
The 12-page booklet, called "Voting for the Common Good: A Practical
Guide for Conscientious Catholics," is part of a broader effort by
liberal and moderate religious groups to challenge the Christian right
on moral values, said Alexia Kelley, the group's executive director and
a former employee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Effort Aims To Push Muslims To the Polls
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR200609280=
1615.html
By Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 29, 2006; Page A07
National Muslim civic leaders announced a new push yesterday to get the
country's estimated 2.2 million registered Muslim voters to the polls,
unveiling a Web site that spells out key races of "Muslim interest" and
ATM-like voter registration machines that will be put in mosques and
Islamic student centers.
The campaign by the Washington-based Muslim American Society is a
continuation of an effort that has been underway since the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks to increase American Muslims' involvement in the
political process. A 2005 survey by the Muslim American Political
Action Committee said 84 percent of registered Muslims voted in the
November 2004 election, compared with 41 percent in 2000.
Ashcroft Is Denied Immunity in Case
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR200609280=
1718.html
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 29, 2006; Page A12
A federal judge in Idaho has ruled that former attorney general John D.
Ashcroft can be held personally responsible for the wrongful detention
of a U.S. citizen arrested as a "material witness" in a terrorism case.
U=2ES. District Judge Edward J. Lodge, in a ruling issued late Wednesday,
dismissed claims by the Justice Department that Ashcroft and other
officials should be granted immunity from claims by a former star
college football player arrested at Dulles International Airport in
2003.
Bush Attacks 'Party of Cut and Run'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR200609280=
1844_pf.html
By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 29, 2006; A12
BIRMINGHAM, Sept. 28 -- In his sharpest partisan attack of this
election campaign, President Bush denounced Democratic critics of his
Iraq policy on Thursday and said "the party of FDR and the party of
Harry Truman has become the party of cut and run."
Seeking to rebut Democrats who say a new intelligence report indicates
that Iraq is fueling terrorism rather than helping to counter it, Bush
said voters face a choice "between two parties with two different
attitudes on this war on terror."
Canadian Police Official Apologizes for Mistakes
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR200609280=
1651.html
Errors Led to Torture of Innocent Man
By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, September 29, 2006; Page A16
TORONTO, Sept. 28 -- Canada's top Mountie apologized Thursday for the
"terrible injustices" done to a Canadian Muslim spirited to Syria and
tortured for 10 months on false suspicions of terrorist ties. Critics
of the government demanded that the prime minister offer his own
apology.
Giuliano Zaccardelli, commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police, directed his remarks to Maher Arar, 36, who four years ago was
detained at a New York airport and delivered to a Syrian prison by U.S.
agents. Those agents were working on false information given to them by
Canada.
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