Category: The Dish

They’re shutting down Abu Ghraib prison. Whoever thought of coopting Saddam’s torture gulag for the coalition troops should have been fired long, long ago. But this is Rumsfeld’s DoD so no one is ever held responsible for anything. The prisoners will be transferred to Camp Cropper, another site where abuse of detainees has been amply recorded. But the name Abu Ghraib for a prison is still worth losing. The complex should be razed and a memorial built to the thousands of victims of Saddam. Why doesn’t the new government champion its demolition? Symbolism matters.

This amorphous term is the one now applied to the company which will run the ports previously owned by DP World. Much rejoicing on the xenophobic right. But surely, we need to know what this entity is before being relieved. The idea that simply because an entity is American it is categorially likely to be more concerned about security is an almost clinical example of mindless nativism. Meanwhile, I’m hoping for Halliburton. It’s an American entity whose ultimate victory would thrill both left and right.

A reader writes:

"I just read on your blog that you’re a conservative. I’ve been reading your blog for months now and I thought you were a liberal with a handful of wrongheaded opinions. I guess now I’ll think of you as an amazingly enlightened conservative."

LOL. Maybe my book will help sort this out. Let’s just say that if Michael Oakeshott can be described as a conservative, then so can I.

A young Indian girl defies the mullahs.

A reader came across this charming food product in a Massachusetts supermarket and, for some reason, wanted me to see it. I should have told him to send it to Mickey. It’s a soup, apparently.

Time magazine editor, Jim Kelly, threw a party for this blog yesterday evening. Gawker was there. I had a blast, as did my "altitudinous" boyfriend. Yep, he’s 6′ 5". Thanks, Jim. Thanks, Time. It was quite a scene.

Michael Totten continues his blog tour of Kurdish Iraq, visiting the town, Baria (above), that Zarqawi had made his home base before the invasion. One of the least remarked on moments in the pre-war was when the U.S. had a clear chance to kill Zarqawi and destroy his operation and the president punted. A military strike would have complicated pre-war diplomacy (or so I was told after the fact by a ‘senior government official’). So one U.S. president was handed bin Laden on a plate and turned it down. And his successor was offered a clear shot at Zarqawi and he walked away. Just saying. Zarqawi was an Islamist monster, of course. Money quote:

"’Did you live here when the village was occupied by Zarqawi?’

‘I did,’ he said. ‘Life wasn’t good. We had no freedom. TV was banned. Women couldn’t walk outside without an abaya. There was violence. Anyone not affiliated with them was treated badly. During prayer time everyone was required to go to the mosque. If we didn‚Äôt go we were insulted and fined 50 dollars.’"

Zarqawi turned the local mosque into his headquarters, trashing it, and trying to install plumbing for a restroom. Michael asks a Kurd at the mosque a difficult question:

"I braced myself. ‘How do you feel about the U.S. bombing this mosque?‚Äù I said.

‘I don‚Äôt know,’ he said, as if he had never even pondered the question. ‘It’s okay, I suppose. I am grateful. If they had not done it this place would still be a toilet.’"

There’s blasphemy and then there’s Zarqawi.

(Photo: Michael Totten.)

A classic from the old codger:

"Q. Andrew Sullivan seems to not like you, handing out Derbyshire Award Nominations in mockery of you. Any idea how that started? Like, did you run over his dog?

John Derbyshire: My private theory is that he is trying to make himself sexually attractive to me in some way I don’t really understand. I have had trouble with homosexuals all my life, I don’t know why. They can be very persistent.

Q. When he’s finished handing out Derbyshire Award Nominations, will you be at the award ceremony to present the Derbyshire Award?

A. I don’t think so. I’d get flustered, having his eyes on me all the time.

Q. I heard that you got Andrew Sullivan fired from the NY Times by spreading rumors that he is gay. Is there any truth to what I just made up?

A. You seem to have some kind of obsession with Andrew Sullivan. Why is that?

Q. It’s now well known that you were an uncredited thug in a Bruce Lee movie. What exactly does a thug have to do to get credit?

A. See?—Sullivan, Sullivan, Sullivan. I really think you have issues here."

I should say I have given up trying to get mad at Derbyshire. The interview is hilarious.

The discussion we’ve been having about sexuality and Islam is fascinating. Keep the emails coming. Here’s one that’s worth airing:

"I have been to Turkey several times. The first time I visited, I was shocked by the reaction I elicited simply from my appearance. I’m a six foot tall middle-aged man with blue eyes and blond hair. Anyone who has been to Turkey, knows the importance of "the blue eye", or "nazar boncuk". An amulet to ward off evil. You see them everywhere. I was told that I had nothing to fear in Turkey, because of my eyes. I wasn’t so sure.

The Grand Bazaar is an enormous semi-outdoor market, with hundreds of little booths, selling everything from rugs to spices. There are virtually no women. The entrance is a long sloping ramp, from which one is visable to nearly the entire market. As I walked down that ramp, a near total silence fell over the crowd. Then there a buzzing murmer of male voices, which  I tried to tell myself wasn’t directed at me.

During that afternoon, I was flirted with, offered dinner invitations, a place to stay the night, a free rug, and  (if I’m not mistaken), even one rug vendors nephew. No-one was rude exactly (except in their assumptions), and I’d be lying if I said  that I wasn’t flattered in a way. However, knowing the repressive rules of Islam, I couldn’t help but be amazed at the complete openess of their behavior. I don’t appear in any way gay, unless blue/blond is considered fair game in the Arab world.

My friends refused to believe me, until they saw it first hand. I went back with a couple from Spain. Brown eyes, black hair. We went to the Bazaar, and it happened again exactly as I had described it to them. Their jaws dropped."

No luck for a bald guy with brown eyes?

For a while now, Stanley Kurtz has been making a career out of arguing that greater and greater legal recognition of same-sex couples in Europe has caused a decline in marriage as an institution as a whole. Jonathan Rauch has been patiently tackling these arguments, and we’ve come, I’d say, to a pivotal moment. I think Kurtz’s arguments have essentially collapsed. But make your own mind up.