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A Good Point

Despite my responsibility as a citizen to keep informed, it’s getting quite difficult to read the news these days. I often find myself having to take a break from reading because I am overcome by anger, bitterness, or despair. And never mind the effect it’s having on my ability to do other work. However, I came across an op-ed yesterday, by a supporter of the war in Iraq, that made some very good points. What I liked most about it was its focus on where do we go from here. Regardless of whether or not you support the war in…

Say What?

CNN is reporting that al-Zarqawi has released an audio tape that justifies the killing of Muslim civilians based on the teachings of so-called Islamic scholars. Here is the intro from CNN: “A chilling, rambling audio file thought to be from the most-wanted man in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, says religious doctrine justifies the killing of innocent Muslims by insurgents. On the audio, the speaker says in Arabic: ‘The shedding of Muslim blood … is allowed in order to avoid the greater evil of disrupting jihad.’ The speaker defends suicide attacks, saying, ‘killing of infidels by any method including martyrdom operations…

Link to review of Dick Clarke’s new book

For those of you unaware, Dick Clarke is former head of counter-terrorism under the Clinton and Bush, Jr. administrations. He’s written a book analyzing the failures of both groups – not just Bush as has been widely reported – in dealing with Al-Qaeda. Unfortunately, I have not yet read the book, but this review is one of the least partisan ones I’ve read so far. It’s really chilling what we don’t know. I’ve often joked – as have others – that the color-coding scheme of terrorist alert is nothing more than a scam to get Bush re-elected. What if it’s…