Having
Their Day in (a Military) Court
By Robert H. Bork
 Trials
in federal courts have features that make them totally inappropriate
for the trial of terrorists. An open trial would be an ideal stage
for an Osama bin Laden to spread his propaganda to all the Muslims
in the world; moreover, our government would inevitably have to
reveal much of our intelligence information, and about the means
by which it is gathered. Charles Krauthammer notes that in the trial
of the bombers of our embassies in Africa, the prosecution had to
reveal that American intelligence intercepted bin Laden's satellite
phone calls: "As soon as that testimony was published, Osama
stopped using the satellite system and went silent. We lost him.
Until Sept. 11."
The Mob Lawyer, Updated
By John J. Miller
Porges
is hardly the first dirty immigration lawyer. What makes the case
different — and sleazier — is his firm's ties to vicious
Chinese smugglers. "Snakeheads" demand up to $50,000 for
taking immigrants from China to the United States, often through
several countries and over many months. Because the costs are so
steep and the immigrants so poor, men sometimes enter into arrangements
that can only be described as indentured servitude; women are frequently
forced to work as prostitutes. The phenomenon comes as close to
the African slave trade as anything this country has seen since
the 19th century.
Studyin’ War Some More
By John Derbyshire
I
confess I never felt much at ease with the "greatest generation"
promotions. Sure, it was good to see the old folk being honored.
Yet there was something smug about it all, something self-congratulatory
and... boomer. It was as if the postwar elites were saying to their
parents: "Yes, we scoffed at your values and ignored your sacrifice.
When we weren't actually denouncing the military virtues, we were
steering as far clear of them as we could. Certainly we never showed
any fondness for them, and brought forward as the first president
from our generation a man who held them in open contempt. But, hey,
that was then and we've, like, moved on." Nor have boomer moviemakers
altogether shaken off the mindset they left college with: It is
interesting to recall that Spielberg promoted Ryan in the first
place as an antiwar movie.
Did You Say “American Imperialism”?
By Bernard Lewis
Charges
of a lack of "evenhandedness" rest on a total misunderstanding
of the situation. Evenhandedness is a desirable quality in judges,
juries, and police forces. It is also appropriate to an imperial
suzerain trying to maintain some balance between contending protégés
and native princes. But it is irrelevant to the policies of a power
protecting its interests as best it can in a dangerous and troubled
region. In the theater of Middle Eastern politics, the United States
is cast in several roles — sometimes as arbiter and enforcer,
i.e., as suzerain; more often, and more popularly, as villain and
scapegoat — and is variously denounced, sometimes by the same
people, for claiming and shirking an imperial mission. The range
of American policy options in the region is being reduced to two
alternatives, both disagreeable: Get tough or get out.
Getting Saddam
By David Pryce-Jones
Saddam's
terrorist crimes have disgraced the 23 years in which he has been
in power. He has beggared and bludgeoned his unfortunate country.
Yet the multicultural and pacifist Left maintains that the United
States should not interfere; to do so attracts the reproach "neo-colonialism."
Those who argue that there are no universal values to justify the
elimination of slavers and pirates, the Taliban and Saddam, in practice
place themselves on the side of these various hells. The inhabitants
of Kabul and other cities — Pashtuns among them — are
turning out in the streets to rejoice at their liberation. To suppose
that they would welcome their oppressors and resist their liberators
is condescending in the extreme. The simplest tribesman is as capable
as an American professor (sometimes, evidently, more so) of distinguishing
what is good for him from what is bad.
Clinton Has No Clothes
By Byron York
At
the time of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Clinton was embroiled
in controversies over gays in the military, an economic stimulus
plan, and the beginnings of Hillary's health-care task force. Khobar
Towers happened not only in the midst of the president's re-election
campaign but also at the end of a month in which there were new
and damaging developments in the Whitewater and Filegate scandals.
The African embassy attacks occurred as the Lewinsky affair was
at fever pitch, in the month that Clinton appeared before Kenneth
Starr's grand jury. And when the Cole was rammed, Clinton
had little time left in office and was desperately hoping to build
his legacy with a breakthrough in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Whenever
a serious terrorist attack occurred, it seemed Bill Clinton was
always busy with something else.
Sticking with Small
By Ramesh Ponnuru
The
war on terrorism might expand government in unforeseen, almost accidental
ways. American health care is still affected by centralizing forces
set in motion by World War II. But there is not yet any reason to
expect a major, lasting shift in public attitudes. If the September
11 attacks had led people to look to Washington for security, they
should have caused support for gun control to rise. Instead, it's
fallen. Americans appreciate the indispensable role of the federal
government in protecting them, but the spike in gun sales suggests
that they're not relying on it alone.
Safe for Democracy, and a Nation
By John O’Sullivan
The
progressivist revolution is an assault on not merely the free market,
but also individual rights, free scientific inquiry, free speech,
the rule of law, majority rule, democratic accountability, and national
sovereignty. In the post-national world, nations are no longer peoples
united by a common history and culture, but are simply the varied
inhabitants of an arbitrary piece of real estate. Civic patriotism
is no longer the prime civic virtue; it is displaced either downwards,
by a narrow ethnic loyalty, or upwards, by a cosmopolitan loyalty
to international institutions. Democracy and the nation-state are
the Siamese twins of political theory; democracy rarely survives
apart from its twin. Every attempt to create a multicultural democracy
either has failed or is deeply troubled. Bush could very reasonably
weave a national appeal around the theme of defending American democracy
— with equal emphasis on both words. If such an appeal is not
made, the progressivist revolution is going to end up winning.
Up-‘n’-Comers
By Kate O’Beirne
Grover
Norquist predicts that there will be a spirited competition for
the mantle of national conservative leader. A record number of Republican
governors have been elected in recent years, but their disappointing
performance in office has conservatives looking elsewhere for promising
politicians to champion their agenda. And while the right-wing bench
— even apart from the governors — is not crowded, there
are worthy incumbents and challengers conservatives should be rooting
for.
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