During World War II the soldiers were all required to attend a series of movies made by the then-patriotic Hollywood studios. The movie series was called “Why We Fight.” This article in City Journal would make a worthy addition to that motivational literature. I am still mystified by political liberals who argue a moral equivalence between our society and the world of Islam where most of them would be subject to instant subjugation, if not worse.
Of course, German rappers disagree.
This is only the first of what I suspect will be a voluminous literature on Chicago politics by November. There are some pretty odd characters here. William Ayers, for example, is another example of a 60s radical from a wealthy background who has somehow avoided prison. They seem to have been able to resume lives in society although a few are in prison where most of them belong.
Some of them, of course, blew themselves up. Diana Oughton was one whose family was prominent in Dwight, Illinois. Her father operated a restaurant for years that was adjacent to the family’s old patent medicine plant.
It will be interesting to see how this evidence of Obama’s radical background plays out.
UPDATE: Here is more on Obama and the women in his life. No, I don’t mean that kind of women. His mother and his wife are very revealing about a man who has almost no history. He is a blank page (or an empty vessel if you prefer that metaphor). Others see what they want to see.
Now they are even checking his facts.
Oh Oh. The honeymoon may be over.
UPDATE: The closing arguments are over. The verdict will come May 21. Karsenty got a fair hearing this time.
In 2000, Israel was dealing with the Intifada, Arafat’s response to the serious peace proposals negotiated by Bill Clinton as he was about to leave office. It was as good an offer as the Palestinians would ever have short of the annihilation of Israel planned by Ahmadinejad of Iran. Of course, Ahmadinejad’s plan would annihilate the Palestinians too. In the midst of this crisis an incident occurred that became the image of the Palestinian argument. A boy named Muhammed al-Dura was allegedly killed by Israeli bullets while crouching with his father behind a wall. The incident became a cause celebre for supporters of the Palestinians. In recent years, others have taken up the matter and published stories that doubt the original version.
Philippe Karsenty, a French TV critic who runs a web site in France, raised the question of whether the entire incident was staged by the Palestinian TV crew. He was then sued by France 2, the TV network that had run the footage and began the controversy. It was their crew who had filmed (or staged) the incident. They even obtained a judgment against him in spite of the fact that the French judge had refused to allow him to obtain the “out takes” of the film. Karsenty contended that a portion of the film, not shown on French TV, had shown the boy still moving when he was alleged to be dead. Maybe it was all a hoax. Outrage followed. I heard him interviewed on the Dennis Prager show about a year ago after the trial.
Karsenty appealed and last week that appeal resulted in a new trial that heard a ballistics expert testify that the event could not have happened as alleged by the French TV program.
This entire affair is an example of the dishonesty of the entire Israeli-Palestinian controversy. In 2000, the Palestinians had a unique opportunity to move beyond the 50 years of squalor they had been offered by their Arab brethren. They could have had 96% of everything they said they wanted. Dennis Ross, the Clinton negotiator, has written that there were venture capitalists ready to invest in the West Bank and economic success was there for the asking. The response was Intifada and the sort of dishonest propaganda that followed. Now the Washington Post is reporting that the Bush Administration has little leverage and the Arabs are turning to Iran. What they do not tell you, is that there is no US solution for the problem. Only when the Palestinians decide to join the 21st century will they achieve a solution. It is in their hands and the al-Dura affair shows that they are not clean hands.
Here is another outrageous phony story by 60 Minutes. These people seem to have lost their senses. The Bush TANG story should have warned them to stay away from deranged people. Instead they plunge back into the fire with another nut.
Prince Harry is back from Afghanistan and is being threatened by Islamist fanatics. Do you suppose this might be enough to rouse some British patriotism ? I wonder.