I’m still an optimist on Iraq – more since the past week. Here’s my Sunday Times column on why.
APOLOGIZE TO YEE: The military needs to apologize to Captain James Yee, the Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, who was smeared, attacked, prosecuted and now muzzled by his superiors – with no valid case against him at all. Nothing less than a public apology from Rumsfeld seems to me to be appropriate, given that Yee was accused of espionage and then, when that case fell apart, adultery. Instead, the top brass are still smearing him.
EURO-ANTI-SEMITISM WATCH: Just read this thread by readers in response to anti-anti-Israel articles in the Guardian/Observer, a paper that routinely spins the news against the Jewish state. Here’s a classic statement: “Aaronovitch and Cohen should accept that with a Jewish ancestry, they are the last people in Britain with any credibility in the denunciation of the use of violence in pursuit of political ends – let alone the insanity of religious belief.” Or this comment: “The point is that The Observer should give some thought to employing people of Jewish descent and allowing them to write one-sided diatribes which are more than likely to be latched upon by anti-Semites.” After reading more and more of this, it’s hard not to feel a sickening lurch in the stomach. Is this poison really still around? And in enlightened British circles?
A HAWK WOBBLES: … and rights himself. A wonderfully frank piece by Johann Hari.
HEADLINE OF THE DAY: From FinanceAsia.com.
EVANGELICALS AGAINST THE FMA: I was always intrigued and somewhat perplexed by online polls on evangelical websites that showed opposition to the unprecedented attempt to ban gay marriage by amending the constitution of the United States. I don’t trust online polls, so i figured they’d been hijacked (as some often are). But along comes a real and comprehensive poll of over 1600 evangelicals that finds a majority opposed to amending the constitution to ban civil marriage for gays. The poll was commissioned by PBS and US News and World Report. 52 percent of evangelicals said they preferred the matter to be handled by the states. So they are conservatives after all! Moreover 48 percent of evangelicals said that support for marriage rights for gays would not disqualify a candidate from their vote. According to the Baltimore Sun, “John Green, a professor of political science at the University of Akron and a leading authority on evangelicals, attributed their opposition to a strong belief in federalism and a reluctance – shared with many Americans – to tamper with the Constitution.” So the president’s endorsement of this extreme measure has succeeded in alienating large sections of moderate opinion and failing to sway even a mjority of the evangelical base. The genius of Karl Rove strikes again. (Meanwhile, Jewish denominations agonize over and debate the issue.)
AN INTERVIEW: With a relatively new blogger by yours truly. Am I prepared to back Kerry over Bush this fall? I explain.
MORE LATER: Having been all the way across the country and back last week, I took yesterday off for R&R. It was a summer day here in Washington D.C. Hence the light dish this morning. Tune in later today for more blogging.
The Dish 