By Andrew L. Jaffee

Thank you Tony Bennett… for displaying your condescending, historical ignorance about the U.S. Yesterday, Bennett graced us with this appraisal, from contactmusic.com:

Legendary singer TONY BENNETT has slammed his home country of America for not contributing anything other than jazz music to world art and culture. The IF I RULED THE WORLD crooner feels that Europe and Asia offer far more culturally than America does. Bennett says, “I have travelled [sic] around the world to Asia and Europe. They show you what they have contributed to the world. The British show you theatre, the Italians show you music and art, the French show you cooking and painting, and the Germans show you science. “The only thing that the United States, which is still a young country, has contributed culturally to the world is jazz - elongated improvisation. It’s tragic.” And Bennett feels that Americans don’t even appreciate the impact of jazz in popular culture. He says, “Fifty years from now people will be bowing to DIZZY GILLESPIE and CHARLIE PARKER, just like impressionist painters like MONET, who were starving in their day. The Americans don’t even know what they have come up with.”

Hmmm… Jazz is it? I’d add a few notable American contributions to the arts, and to society in general: The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, The Marshall Plan, the defeat of Germany in WWI, the defeat of Germany, Italy, and Japan in WWII, Rock & Roll, Bluegrass, Blues, Dixieland, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Philip Glass, The Eagles, David Crosby, Steven Stills, Andrew Wyeth, Truman Capote, Elvis, Jackson Pollock, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Jimi Hendrix…

Anyone want to join in and add like a million other names, things, forms, etc?

Don’t forget that Europe gave us two world wars, and Lenin, communism, and fascism. Asia gave us Hirohito, Mao, Pol Pot, and Ho Chi Min… On the other hand, there’s no need to denigrate Europe and Asia’s positive contributions, and I’m not being facetious.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Just last week, Syrian President Assad was talking of a “peace settlement in the Middle East.” Today, he showed his full (poker) hand, which divulged his true intentions. Assad has no desire to cut off arms shipments to Hezbollah. From the BBC:

In a meeting with the UN’s Mr Roed-Larsen on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the stationing of UN troops along Lebanon’s border with Syria to stop the smuggling of arms to Hezbollah would allow it to lift the blockade.

But Syrian President Bashar al-Assad immediately rejected the idea, saying it would be interpreted as a “hostile act”.

So Assad is defying U.N. Resolution 1701, which welcomes:

the efforts of the Lebanese prime minister and the commitment of the government of Lebanon, in its seven-point plan, to extend its authority over its territory, through its own legitimate armed forces, such that there will be no weapons without the consent of the government of Lebanon and no authority other than that of the government of Lebanon, welcoming also its commitment to a UN force that is supplemented and enhanced in numbers, equipment, mandate and scope of operation, and bearing in mind its request in this plan for an immediate withdrawal of the Israeli forces from southern Lebanon…

So who now is the “obstacle” to peace? Will Italy et al — those contributing troops to a UN peacekeeping force — acquiesce to the Syrian border being off-limits?

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by Daniel Pipes
New York Sun*
August 22, 2006
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3890
* Cross-posted with permission

The debate over profiling airline passengers revived after the thwarted Islamist plot to bomb 10 airplanes in London on Aug. 10. The sad fact is, through inertia, denial, cowardice, and political correctness, Western airport security services — with the notable exception of Israel’s — search primarily for the implements of terrorism, while largely ignoring passengers.

Although there has been some progress since the attacks of September 11, 2001, most involves the scrutiny of all travelers’ actions. For example, in 2003, the Transportation Security Administration, charged with protecting American airplanes, launched a passenger profiling system known as Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques, or SPOT, now operating in twelve U.S. airports.

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by Andrew Whitehead, Director
Anti-CAIR (ACAIR)
August 22, 2006
* Cross-posted with permission

On August 7, the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) wrote a puff piece about two CAIR “civil rights” interns who visited Enaam Arnaout, past director of the Benevolence International Foundation (BIF). Arnaout is currently serving 10 years following his conviction in February, 2006 [for "collaboration with al Qaeda, Hezb e Islami and other violent groups in various countries."].

To read the indictment:

http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/
hdocs/docs/bif/usarnaout10603prof.pdf

CAIR “civil rights” interns visit a man in prison who committed crimes against the United States and CAIR not only trumpets the visit, CAIR goes on to use the visit as a means to further attack the government for supposed “civil rights” violations:

http://www.cairchicago.org/ournews.php?file=on_enaam_arnout

CAIR closes the article with, “With his strong will and conviction, Mr. Enaam Arnaout is a wonderful example of availing those rights promised to us in the US Constitution, and truly demanding the respect that comes along with being a citizen of the United States of America, regardless of race, ethnicity, or religious belief.”

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By Bill Narvey

There is increasing concern over witnessing the rise in anti-Semitism to virulent levels within much of the Muslim world. Those concerns are heightened by the fact that there has also been a concurrent and disturbing rise of anti-Semitism in the West.

The question has often been asked, why do so many Muslims hate the Jews? That question however should be asked alongside the question, why do some Christians still hate the Jews?

The answer to both questions is fundamentally the same. The root causes for anti-Semitism are found in the dark side of human nature.

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by Edward J. Erickson
Middle East Quarterly*
Summer 2006
http://www.meforum.org/article/991
* Cross-posted with permission

The debate about the World War I deportation and massacre of Armenians in eastern Anatolia has become more contentious with time. Opponents of Turkey’s European Union accession treat the Armenian question as original sin. Yet much of the historical debate upon which politicians pass judgment is tinged more by polemic than by fact. Nine decades after hundreds of thousands of Armenians—and millions of others—died during World War I, it is important to dig down into the archives to show what the historical record really says.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Just last week, Lebanon’s UN ambassador said, “Lebanon will be, I think, the last state to sign a peace treaty with Israel.” Lebanon’s own Defense Minister Murr stated, “The army won’t be deployed to south Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah, something which Israel wasn’t able to do itself. Its role is to ensure the security of the resistance and citizens, to protect the victory of the resistance.” Today, Murr is singing a different tune. What happened? From the BBC:

Lebanon’s defence minister says anyone firing rockets at Israel from the south will be considered a traitor and be firmly dealt with by the army.

Elias Murr’s remarks are being seen as a warning to militias, but he also expressed confidence Hezbollah was committed to the UN-brokered truce.

Mr Murr was speaking a day after an Israeli raid raised new concerns about the stability of the truce.

But he did not repeat a warning about halting army deployments to the south.

Maybe this has something to do with Murr’s change of heart:

Mr Murr told a Beirut news conference that any ceasefire violation that would give Israel the justification to strike Lebanon would be “treated harshly”.

“It will be considered as direct collaboration with the Israeli enemy,” Mr Murr said, adding that those responsible “will be tried and referred to a military tribunal”.

In other words, Israel’s ability to land a special commando unit into southern Lebanon at a time of its choosing — yesterday — reminded Murr of the Jewish state’s vastly superior armed forces. Israel could again resume operations in Lebanon at any time.

Let’s hope Murr is man of his word, and will follow up his words with actions. He needs to worry a lot less about flattering Hezbollah, and concentrate on building a Lebanon that can control its own sovereignty.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Half of Iranians are under the age of 24, which means that the majority of the country has no direct knowledge of the defining event in its modern history — the 1979 Islamic revolution.

- CBC News

Iranian youth hold the key to their country’s future. How long can they live under their repressive, Islamist rulers before the kettle boils over? Do they want to overthrow their mullahs? Could they do it without Western help?

Protests, led be Iran’s young people — usually students — have erupted in the past, only to be quelled by the mullahs’ thugs. Indeed, today the Islamic regime is flexing its muscles, test-firing 10 new missiles and holding country-wide military exercises — all the more reason to focus on Iran. The youthful will to freedom is definitely there. And there is good reason, at least in dictators’ eyes, for Iran’s rulers to fear their own young people.

In 2002, Iran’s state news agency Irna and the National Institute for Research Studies and Opinion Polls (NIRSOP) conducted a poll of 1,500 Iranian citizens. According to the BBC, the poll, commissioned by Iran’s parliament, or Majlis, showed that:

• 74% of respondents over the age of 15 support dialogue with the US
• 45.8% believe Washington’s policy on Iran is “to some extent correct”.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

The dialog in an old IBM professional services TV ad went something like this:

Consultants: Have you reviewed our proposal?
Customer: Yes. I like it. Do it.
Consultants: Er, ah, we just propose things, we don’t actually do the work…

Want to talk disproportionate? Let’s talk disproportionate. We’ll talk about Lebanon’s hypocritical anger, which should be leveled at Hezbollah, and should be channeled into taking responsibility for Lebanese sovereignty. We’ll talk about France’s hypocrisy, i.e., “We don’t enforce resolutions; we just write them.”

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From the Anti-Defamation League

As Israeli troops moved into southern Lebanon, they began coming to the realization that the infrastructure of bunkers, launching sites, and missiles that Hezbollah built up is even more elaborate and sophisticated than Israel had expected. All of it was done through the financial support, bidding and training from Iran. Israel is now estimating that Iran has spent billions of dollars to create this network.

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by Daniel Pipes
Daniel Pipes’ Weblog*
August 14, 2006
http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/652
* Cross-posted with permission

George W. Bush had used “Islamic fascists” and “Islamofascists” often before but, for reasons that elude me, his statement on Aug. 10 turned this wording into a major issue, with dozens of articles, pro and con, debating the term. I myself weighed in today with an article titled “‘At War with Islamic Fascists’.” Here are some of the discussions that struck me as particularly worthwhile, with additions as they appear:

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

After a so-so, 34-day military campaign against Hezbollah terrorists, a U.N. ceasefire agreement, and a partial withdrawal from Lebanon, Israel has taken action. Early this morning, Israeli commandos struck deep into Lebanon, around Baalbek:

“…to prevent and interfere with terror activity against Israel, especially the smuggling of arms from Iran and Syria to Hezbollah.” And it [Israel] said such operations would continue until “an effective monitoring unit” was in place to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its arsenal.

“If the Syrians and Iran continue to arm Hezbollah in violation of the (U.N. cease-fire) resolution, Israel is entitled to act to defend the principle of the arms embargo,” Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev said. “Once the Lebanese army and the international forces are active… then such Israeli activity will become superfluous.”

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Is the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) working to making us safer, or trying to help Islamist terrorists plot atrocities on U.S. soil? President Bush talks of “Islamic Fascists,” then DHS, supposedly under his control, bends over backwards in the most extreme form of political correctness, and gives CAIR, a group with known ties to terrorism, a guided tour of U.S. airport security protocols? Are we at war with “Islamic Fascists,” or trying to appease them? This is outrageous and completely self-destructive. From WorldNetDaily:

The Department of Homeland Security took a Muslim group with known past ties to terror organizations on a VIP tour of security operations at the nation’s busiest airport at the same time British authorities were working to break up a plot to blow up U.S. airlines.

On June 21, a senior DHS official from Washington personally guided Muslim officials from the Council on American-Islamic Relations on a behind-the-scenes tour of Customs screening operations at O’Hare International Airport in response to CAIR complaints that Muslim travelers were being unfairly delayed as they entered the U.S. from abroad.

CAIR is a spin-off of the Islamic Association for Palestine, identified by two former FBI counterterrorism chiefs as a “front group” for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Several CAIR leaders have been convicted on terror-related charges.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

There’s no reasoning with people whose “protests” carry messages like these — on American soil, no less. These protestors are aligned with those in our nation who advocate “dialog” with the likes of Iranian President Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah. Seeing is believing:

August 12th Rally in Washington DC
Anti-war protesters supported terrorism and hatred for Jews and Israel in rallies across the country. Protestors praised Hezbollah and other Middle Eastern terrorist groups, and expressed their support for “resistance movements” fighting against Israel and against American forces in Iraq.

The gatherings were sponsored and endorsed by prominent organizations representing the Muslim and Arab communities in the U.S., together with organizers of antiwar rallies and far-left socialist groups. …

Continue reading…

From the Anti-Defamation League

Implementation! Implementation! Implementation! That’s the name of the game regarding UN Resolution 1701, passed by the Security Council on Friday and approved near-unanimously by Israel’s cabinet.

While Israel did not achieve the kind of dramatic victory of the Six Day War, the crossing of the Suez Canal in 1973 or the ousting of Arafat from Lebanon in 1982, the potentially changed dynamic in south Lebanon is a substantial achievement, if implemented.

There’s room for criticism of the resolution and of the outcome of the conflict to this point:

1. It doesn’t provide an explicit mechanism for the return of Israel’s kidnapped soldiers
2. No mechanism for the dismantling of Hezbollah.
3. Nasrallah is standing
4. Rockets were still hitting Israeli cities

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