WFB is mentioned in the “Lives” column on the last page of

the magazine, encouraging a young Brendan Greeley to try to sail across the

Atlantic and live off a boat in France.

The letters to the editor responding to the

recent SCOTUS Atkins decision are, predictably, opposed to the

execution of the mentally retarded. What is noteworthy is that they also seem

uniformly opposed to the death penalty in general: “until this so-called

civilized nation of ours gets around to abolishing capital punishment altogether

. . .” and “Why is the United States the only Western democracy still using such

a barbaric practice?”

The most interesting article is Elizabeth Rubin’s article on the Iraq-based

Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mujahedeen. While the enemy of my enemy

may be a strategic ally (Soviet Union in WWII) he is not my friend (Saudi

Arabia), and Rubin nicely documents that there is a good reason why Congress

should hesitate before embracing this group with open arms. But she misses one

of the key aspects of the story: Yes, the French recently cracked down on the

organization, but they originally welcomed the group’s leaders with open arms.

Could the French be cracking down on this band of terrorists not to curry favor

with the EU or US, but with Tehran? Amir Taheri hit the nail on the head with

this article, originally written

for the Wall Street Journal.