My most recent Scripps Howard is on a French blood libel–and Jacques Chirac’s refusal to set the record straight.

It is clear is that Israelis did not kill Mohammed al-Durra. It is still unclear whether the Myth of Mohammed al-Durra’s Murder is the result of a tragic misunderstanding–or a spectacular fraud, intended to stoke the fires of anti-Israeli hatred and establish, in the public mind, a moral equivalence between Palestinian terrorists and Israeli soldiers.

The column is here.

And you’ll appreciate this email I received in response:

Dear Mr. May,
I read your column regarding France 2’s reporting of young Mohammed’s shooting with great interest. Like you, I was struck by reporter Charles Enderlin’s statement that he was certain that Israelis had killed Mohammed because this “corresponded to the reality of the situation, not only in Gaza but in the West Bank.” What struck me so hard is that this was almost identical to Dan Rather’s (and Mary Mapes’) statements when “Memogate” scandal erupted. Rather asserted that it didn’t matter that his only hard evidence was forgery, because he knew for a fact that everything in the documents was true.
I, and I am a board-certified psychiatrist, believe that this is truly how leftists think: they claim an enlightened knowledge of the world and then use events and evidence to demonstrate their annointed rectitude. If hard evidence to the contrary appears, it is ignored or totally discounted. This brings us to arguments such as these:
-Fidel Castro has brought prosperity to Cubans despite the U.S.’s toothless embargo–an embargo that the U.S. must end in order to feed the starving Cubans.
-The winter of 2003-2004 was the coldest on record, a direct result of global warming.
-There are no WMD in Iraq and we must not put our children in harm’s way there because Saddam will use WMD on them.
-The Soviet Union collapsed under its own weight, poving that we need socialized medicine in the U.S.
-Anything ever written, spoken, or tacitly thought by Noam Chomsky.
I could go on and on, but you get the picture. Suffice it to say I was not surprised to read Enderlin’s blather.
Thank you for your time. Keep fighting the Good Fight.
Regards,
Scott Wallace