Jeffrey Goldberg, the New Yorker writer, recalls an interview he had with Benon Sevan, the oil-for-food U.N. administrator now under scrutiny for allegedly skimming vast amounts of money in bribes from Saddam’s regime. It was in a piece for the New Yorker in March 2002. I quote: Last week, in New York, I met with … Continue reading SEVAN UPDATE
Here’s my precis of Hayes’ precis. The relationship between Saddam and the Islamofascists goes back a long way – right back to the fascist Egyptian Brotherhood (for a peerless account of their ideological pedigree, read Paul Berman’s little masterpiece, “Terror and Liberalism”). Here’s the Feith memo: 4. According to a May 2003 debriefing of a … Continue reading … SADDAM LINKED UP WITH OSAMA
On the Patriot Act. And don’t miss this fisking of Fisk either. Money quote: Fisk’s third stay in Baghdad lasted from the end of August to late September. Fisking involves both commission and omission. Once again, he reported nothing from Kurdistan, nothing about the return of the Marsh Arabs to their immemorial home. A journey … Continue reading VIDAL IS FISKED
I don’t know why I took so long to read Jeffrey Goldberg’s latest piece from Kurdistan in the New Yorker. I started reading it coming back on the plane from Miami and I’m still reeling. It’s easily the most important piece of journalism produced this year: judiciously reported, pellucidly written, morally strict. It starts with … Continue reading THE CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER
