Month: July 2005

“Even though I’m a tranquil guy now at this stage of my life, I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious, of traitors.” – president George H.W. Bush, April 26, 1999.

An obviously non-procreative couple gets married in Britain. Worse: “Simon is gifted with the organ.” I anticipate condemnation from Maggie Gallagher, Stanley Kurtz, and Pope Benedict XVI.

Whenever I point out the excrescences of Jerry Falwell on the far right, I am routinely told that he is no longer a member of the religious right in good standing, that he is now a fringe character, that he has no real ties to the Bush administration, that his comments blaming 9/11 on gays and women in America made him persona non grata, and on and on. So why did the White House call Falwell for input on a judicial nominee for the Supreme Court? Just asking.

More nuttiness from the new Vatican.

I recently pointed out a glaring error in a recent Molly Ivins column. To her credit, she has now corrected herself and apologized:

This is a horror. In a column written June 28, I asserted that more Iraqis (civilians) had now been killed in this war than had been killed by Saddam Hussein over his 24-year rule. WRONG. Really, really wrong.

Good for her.

He could be France’s pro-market, pro-U.S. salvation. A new profile is up at Foreign Policy (you have to register but it’s free).

I’d say it would be prudent for all journalists to be very careful in speculating about the Rove-Plame thingy. We don’t know enough to know anything for sure. One of the first casualties of the impulse to jump to conclusions is Bob Kuttner. (I can’t believe I beat Mickey to this. I guess he’s been too busy covering the London massacres.)

Another reminder of who the enemy is, and how some extraordinary people are prepared to battle imprisonment and torture for the sake of freedom.

Memri has the best round-up. Some usual suspects express support for the murderers, but I’m struck by the force of many more condemnations from mullahs and government leaders in the Middle East. Bombing London – a metropolis much loved by many Arabs and Muslims – may have backfired. This was particularly encouraging:

Columnist for the London Arabic daily Al-Hayat Jihad Al-Khazen, who often attacks the American administration and U.S. policy, wrote: ‘The Arabs and Muslims, from amongst whom has emerged most of the terrorism since September 11, must head the counter-terrorism efforts. We are responsible for this terrorism before the others, and thus we are responsible for resisting it, and the effort required [on our part] begins by not denying our responsibility for it … More than once I have written [this], and today too I write that the Arabs and Muslims must help the U.S. and not leave the running of the war on terror to it … There is no point in accusing the American administration of responsibility for the spread of terror. What is important is that this terrorism exists, and is killing innocents, and everyone must cooperate to defeat it … The first thing required from the Arab and Islamic countries is to launch a campaign [to increase] awareness amongst the societies that will strip terrorism of its well-known justifications and will emphasize that it constitutes a departure from the religion.”

Out of evil, hope.

One Marie Fatayi-Williams, the immigrant Nigerian mother of a London-born son, Anthony, stood in Tavistock Square, near the Islamist massacre in London, and gave the following impromptu speech, holding a picture of her son. The oration speaks for itself. Perhaps in times like these, the rhetoric of ordinary people forced to confront extraordinary evil, is the highest form of rhetoric there is. When it is powered by a mother’s love, it reaches new depth and height:

“This is Anthony, Anthony Fatayi -Williams, 26 years old, he’s missing and we fear that he was in the bus explosion … on Thursday. We don’t know. We do know from the witnesses that he left the Northern line in Euston. We know he made a call to his office at Amec at 9.41 from the NW1 area to say he could not make [it] by the tube but he would find alternative means to work.

Since then he has not made any contact with any single person. Now New York, now Madrid, now London. There has been widespread slaughter of innocent people. There have been streams of tears, innocent tears. There have been rivers of blood, innocent blood. Death in the morning, people going to find their livelihood, death in the noontime on the highways and streets.

They are not warriors. Which cause has been served? Certainly not the cause of God, not the cause of Allah because God Almighty only gives life and is full of mercy. Anyone who has been misled, or is being misled to believe that by killing innocent people he or she is serving God should think again because it’s not true. Terrorism is not the way, terrorism is not the way. It doesn’t beget peace. We can’t deliver peace by terrorism, never can we deliver peace by killing people. Throughout history, those people who have changed the world have done so without violence, they have [won] people to their cause through peaceful protest. Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, their discipline, their self-sacrifice, their conviction made people turn towards them, to follow them. What inspiration can senseless slaughter provide? Death and destruction of young people in their prime as well as old and helpless can never be the foundations for building society.

My son Anthony is my first son, my only son, the head of my family. In African society, we hold on to sons. He has dreams and hopes and I, his mother, must fight to protect them. This is now the fifth day, five days on, and we are waiting to know what happened to him and I, his mother, I need to know what happened to Anthony. His young sisters need to know what happened, his uncles and aunties need to know what happened to Anthony, his father needs to know what happened to Anthony. Millions of my friends back home in Nigeria need to know what happened to Anthony. His friends surrounding me here, who have put this together, need to know what has happened to Anthony. I need to know, I want to protect him. I’m his mother, I will fight till I die to protect him. To protect his values and to protect his memory.

Innocent blood will always cry to God Almighty for reparation. How much blood must be spilled? How many tears shall we cry? How many mothers’ hearts must be maimed? My heart is maimed. I pray I will see my son, Anthony. Why? I need to know, Anthony needs to know, Anthony needs to know, so do many others unaccounted for innocent victims, they need to know.

It’s time to stop and think. We cannot live in fear because we are surrounded by hatred. Look around us today. Anthony is a Nigerian, born in London, worked in London, he is a world citizen. Here today we have Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Hindus, all of us united in love for Anthony. Hatred begets only hatred. It is time to stop this vicious cycle of killing. We must all stand together, for our common humanity. I need to know what happened to my Anthony. He’s the love of my life. My first son, my first son, 26. He tells me one day, “Mummy, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die. I want to live, I want to take care of you, I will do great things for you, I will look after you, you will see what I will achieve for you. I will make you happy.’ And he was making me happy. I am proud of him, I am still very proud of him but I need to know where he is, I need to know what happened to him. I grieve, I am sad, I am distraught, I am destroyed.

He didn’t do anything to anybody, he loved everybody so much. If what I hear is true, even when he came out of the underground he was directing people to take buses, to be sure that they were OK. Then he called his office at the same time to tell them he was running late. He was a multi-purpose person, trying to save people, trying to call his office, trying to meet his appointments. What did he then do to deserve this. Where is he, someone tell me, where is he?”

Pray for her, and her only son.