Katherine R

Class-blogging

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My “Terror in the 21st Century” class makes blogging both very difficult and very easy. Very difficult because there are 3 hours of class and 150 pages of reading every weekday. Very easy because I can write whole posts by excerpting the most interesting parts of my notes. For instance:

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Arar #2

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Here you go, the fruits of my first googling. I do an awful lot of quoting–to make it clear what are my words and what are not, I have tried to italicize the text of all quotations.

1. The transcript of Arar’s November 4 statement to the media is probably the best place to start. Not surprisingly, it is graphic.

2. The SF Chronicle editorial on the government’s basis for suspecting Arar is disputed. Anonymous U.S. and Canadian intelligence officials told The Canadian Post in December that they were “100% sure” that Arar had been at an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan. Here is a CTV summary of the allegations.

Excerpts: “The officials allege Arar travelled to Pakistan in the early 1990’s, then entered Afghanistan to train at the al Qaeda base known as the Khaldun camp.” (“Graduates” of that camp were involved in the 1993 WTC bombing and the 1998 embassy bombings.) “Arar, 33, says he confessed to travelling to Afghanistan only after being tortured in Syria. He now insists he’s never been to that country and that he’s not a member of al Qaeda.”

“He now insists” might imply that Arar has changed his story–but in his initial statement he denies connection with Al Qaeda, denies ever going to Afghanistan, and says that they tortured a confession out of him. I believe this was before the allegations by the anonymous intelligence officers; here is is the relevant quotation.

Then on the third day, the interrogation lasted about 18 hours. They beat me from time to time and make me wait in the waiting room for one to two hours before resuming the interrogation.

While in the waiting room I heard a lot of people screaming. They wanted me to say I went to Afghanistan. This was a surprise to me.

They had not asked about this in the United States. They kept beating me so I had to falsely confess and told them I did go to Afghanistan. I was ready to confess to anything if it would stop the torture. They wanted me to say I went to a training camp.

Pyle (the author of the SF Chronicle editorial) does not give sources for the explanation for Arar’s presence on the watch list. My guess is that they come from these passages in Arar’s statement:

They said they wanted to know why I did not want to go back to Syria. I told them I would be tortured there. I told them I had not done my military service; I am a Sunni Muslim; my mother’s cousin had been accused of being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and was put in prison for nine years.

and

They asked me about Abdullah Almalki, and I told them I worked with his brother at high-tech firms in Ottawa, and that the Almalki family had come from Syria about the same time as mine. I told them I did not know Abdullah well, but had seen him a few times and I described the times I could remember.

I told them I had a casual relationship with him.

They were so rude with me, yelling at me that I had a selective memory. Then they pulled out a copy of my rental lease from 1997. I could not believe they had this.

I was completely shocked. They pointed out that Abdullah had signed the lease as a witness. I had completely forgotten that he had signed it for me — when we moved to Ottawa in 1997, we needed someone to witness our lease, and I phoned Abdullah’s brother, and he could not come, so he sent Abdullah.

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Maher Arar

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This article (via Brad DeLong, via Crooked Timber) is about the Maher Arar case. It outlines the basic story, which many of you will be familiar with: a Canadian citizen, changing planes at JFK, is deported to Syria where he is tortured for months and then released. (Arar is a joint Canadian-Syrian citizen but had not been to Syria for 16 years. I vaguely remember reading, though I do not have a cite for this, that the reason he’s a joint citizen is that Syria did not allow him to renounce his citizenship there.)

The article, an editorial by a Con. Law professor at Mount Holyoke, contains some new details, about exactly what happened to Arar,

So, they put Arar on a private plane and flew him to Washington, D.C. There, a new team, presumably from the CIA, took over and delivered him, by way of Jordan, to Syrian interrogators. This covert operation was legal, our Justice Department later claimed, because Arar is also a citizen of Syria by birth….

The Syrians locked Arar in an underground cell the size of a grave: 3 feet wide, 6 feet long, 7 feet high. Then they questioned him, under torture, repeatedly, for 10 months. Finally, when it was obvious that their prisoner had no terrorist ties, they let him go, 40 pounds lighter, with a pronounced limp and chronic nightmares.

and about what the government’s basis for suspicion was.

The Syrians believed that Arar might be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Why? Because a cousin of his mother’s had been, nine years earlier, long after Arar moved to Canada. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police reported that the lease on Arar’s apartment had been witnessed by a Syrian- born Canadian who was believed to know an Egyptian Canadian whose brother was allegedly mentioned in an al Qaeda document.

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The Big O

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Is it satisfying to have the former Treasury Secretary, who sat on the National Security Council, say many, many of the things I’ve said and thought about the Bush administration? You betcha. But what I’d really like is a month off from school and access to the 19,000 documents he gave Suskind. Failing that, here’s … Read more

As Iowa Turns

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This Harkin endorsement can only be good for Dean, and I think it’s a much bigger deal than the four year old Canadian TV show thing. But my favorite line of the AP story on Harkin was this: “To me, it’s a cynical attempt to participate in the Iowa caucuses if that’s the way he … Read more

Threat Level Reduced.

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As Atrios informs us, The Department of Homeland Security has reduced the terrorist threat level from Ernie to Bert. This is obviously good news. I don’t know about that scale, though. Cookie Monster and Oscar are kind of threatening and/or grouchy for the lowest threat levels; I think Grover and Kermit might be better choices. … Read more

The good old days

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Via Atrios, here is a National Review article on the law of rape.: Pre-feminist common sense suggested that a woman who comes alone to a man’s hotel room late at night has already consented to sex with him, but on the all-or-nothing principle so dear to ideologues everywhere, feminist orthodoxy insists that the adoption of … Read more

To Win Over Disillusioned Dean-bots, get ready to form Voltron!

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(This post is directed mainly towards fellow Democrats or Democratic-leaning independent. If you’re it’s not given for you that the Democrats are the good guys and that Bush has to go, it won’t make much sense.)
I wouldn’t make the same prediction about the primary as von—, but I think it’s a strong possibility & I’m going to write this post on the assumption that it will come true.

I think it’s becoming clear that the last phase will be a two man race between Dean and Clark, and that both have a realistic chance of winning. I should be happy with this. I’ve been wishing for a two man race between Dean and Clark since September and especially since December. The scurvy Congresscritters* have been routed, and it’s down to our two strongest candidates. I thought at one point that I’d be nearly as happy with Clark’s nomination as with Dean’s.

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1968, 1972, 1994, 2000, 2002

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People are still raising the specter of “Dean as McGovern.” (Actually “raising” is not an accurate term anymore. Every Dean supporter has heard this one too many times to count, for over half a year. “Waving around the specter with cries of ‘DOOM! DOOM!’ ” is a little wordy though.)

Here’s my main problem with these comparisons. It’s not that they’re inaccurate or unoriginal (though they are both those things.) It’s this: 1972 was not the worst year for the Democratic party in the last half century, and the belief that it was is a symptom of something seriously wrong with our party.

Yes, it was a landslide. But Democrats still controlled both houses of Congress. And of course, a year and a half after his second term began, Nixon resigned, and “don’t blame me, I’m from Massachusetts” bumper stickers became very popular. In my list of “lousy years for the Democratic Party”, 1972 is no higher than fifth.

These are my top four, in descending order:

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Pre-emption and the PLA

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More “ripped from the classroom” blogging. I’m going to make an analogy between the Bush doctrine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict–and the U.S. gets compared to a side you will not like. So let me be clear : I am not making a moral or historical parallel between Bush and Arafat, let alone our military and … Read more

Club for Growth–update

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I, and the Washington Times, have misrepresented the Club for Growth . According to this LA Times article (free registration required), Dean not content to sip lattes (he actually doesn’t drink coffee which is much more disturbing), read the NY Times, drive a Volvo (actually a Jeep–again, much worse in my eyes but it is … Read more

9/11 Memorial Follow Up

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They’ve chosen the design. Times article here, and you can view some of the images here (note that those don’t reflect a recent re-design to conform to Libeskind’s plan–the new design will be unveiled next week). It will probably be impossible to do this right, and even more impossible to please everyone, especially this soon … Read more

EXTRA, EXTRA: Stupid Guy Says Something Stupid!

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But this time the stupid guy* is a NY Times columnist, so it’s blogworthy. Kevin Drum and Josh Marshall, titans of the liberal blogosphere that they are, do a very good job summing up what’s wrong with Brooks’ piece. And Marshall neatly summarizes the problem with, not only Brooks’ op-ed, but a huge proportion of … Read more

Exquisite in Its Simplicity

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Via Pandagon, from the new Club for Growth ads in Iowa: a farmer says he thinks that “Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading …” before the farmer’s wife then finishes the sentence: “… Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont, where it belongs.” (here’s a link to the … Read more

“One Man’s Terrorist Is Another Man’s Freedom Fighter”

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(this is the first of what’s likely to be many posts on my “Terrorism in the 21st Century” class, which I’m taking for three hours a day for most of the month of January.)

The quotation in the headline is:
1) A popular cliche, whose original author or speaker is hard to pin down.

2) An example, for many people, of everything that is wrong with The Left.

3) A gross oversimplification. There are many terrorists who are manifestly not freedom fighters (obvious example: Osama bin Laden). There are also many freedom fighters who are manifestly not terrorists. (obvious examples: Vaclav Havel, Martin Luther King, George Washington.) Ignoring that, and implying that it’s all relative, is a great way to make people you think terrorism is okay and obscure a worthwile point.

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Post Of The Week*

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I don’t agree with everything Ezra Klein says here, not nearly. Nevertheless, I liked it so much that I’m going to break two of my blogging commandments** and tell you to read the whole thing. It’s one of the most original, thought-provoking, and snappiest pieces of writing on the overall U.S. political situation, that I’ve … Read more

You Gotta Believe

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Sad news in the world of sports: Tug McGraw, a relief pitcher for the Mets and Phillies, died yesterday of brain cancer. He was only 59. McGraw was before my time–I started watching in ’86, so I only know him from interviews and one of the Mets history videos I own (yes, I am a … Read more

Libertarian Law Prof Makes Good

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Eugene Volokh strikes a blow for sensible argument and historical perspective, which liberals and conservatives alike could use more of these days….I don’t have much to add; it’s not so often that I can recommend something in the National Review without qualification.

Proselytizing

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While we’re on the subject of food, I thought I would mention that this is the world’s best cookbook. Cambodian food has a lot of similarities to Thai and Vietnamese but I think it’s better than either. The recipes are surprisingly easy, and surprisingly similar to the ones at the Boston restaurant that publishes the cookbook. I’ve bought three copies so far–one for myself, two as gifts–and 1/3 to 1/4 of the meals my husband and I cook regularly are now Cambodian. (Our friends make fun of us for this, but they like eating the results. And the Irish and Jewish traditions aren’t exactly known for their food.)

The main problem is finding some of the more obscure ingredients–you can substitute ginger for galangal, and regular soy sauce for mushroom soy sauce, easily enough, but it’s hard to get started if you can’t find lemongrass and impossible if you can’t find fish sauce. I’ve located almost everything in Boston and found the rest in New York, but if you live in a more suburban or rural place it might be harder. (And in some cases we just got lucky–the local ice cream parlor, of all places, stocks kaffir lime leaves. Bizarre.)

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Howard Dean, the Pilgrims, and other far out lefties

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There have been a bunch of articles about Howard Dean’s religion over the last two weeks, most of them negative. The main knock on Dean is that he switched denominations (from Episcopal to Congregationalist) in the early 1980s in part because of a dispute over a bike path. This doesn’t seem like much of a story to me–he switched churches/denominations, not religions, because he had a strong dislike for some of the leaders of the church. Is this really so uncommon among Protestant denominations? I’m not the best judge, since my parents treated religious affiliation like George Steinbrenner treated managers in the late 1970s and 1980s–I was raised (more or less chronologically) Catholic, Episcopal, Quaker, Catholic again, Methodist, Unitarian, Episcopal again, and will probably be a reform Jew in a few years. But I know many more people who switched denominations at one point or another. My husband’s family goes to a Conservative synagogue on the high holy days because their local Reform rabbi is underwhelming. President Bush was raised Episcopalian and is now, if I remember correctly, Methodist. Other friends switched from Congregational to Unitarian because of a minister they really admired. For that matter, the Episcopal church began for pretty worldly reasons (though the Anglican church says it’s more complicated than that).

Some of the articles also make it sound as if the Congregational Church is some newfangled, leftist, hippy denomination. Frankin Foer’s New Republic article says:

As he shopped around for churches, it was natural that he turned to Congregationalism, a denomination famous for its informality and liberal stances. Last November, Dean told a reporter from the Forward that he liked that “there is no central authority” in the tradition. By the time Dean joined the church, Congregationalists had already authorized the ordination of gay ministers. Yoga is taught in the church. Sermons sometimes make the case for lefty causes, especially the plight of the Palestinians.

And here’s the always-charming Cal Thomas:

Dean is from a Congregationalist background, a liberal denomination that does not believe in ministerial authority or church hierarchy. Each Congregationalist believes he is in direct contact with God and is entitled to sort out truth for himself.

I would just like to point out that this zany hippie religion is more than a century older than our country is. The first American Congregationalists were the pilgrims–as in the Mayflower, Plymouth Rock, the first Thanksgiving, the whole bit. The Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony were also Congregationalists; so were more heretical sorts like Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. So was Mr. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” himself, Jonathan Edwards. (It’s rather more complicated than I’m making out, since there was no centralized authority, and I think the Presbyterian church has some deep roots in Puritanism too. You can read more here.)

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And a Happy New Year

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As Moe suspected, I’ve been too busy with Hanukkah celebration/Christmas preparation to post. I have limited computer access, especially if I don’t want to reveal my secret identity to my extended family. Also, I’ve paid almost no attention to politics for the past few days so I don’t have all that much to write about. … Read more

Do it for Wendell and Cass!

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Non-genius Matt Singer says it better than I can: The American Family Association, an organization I would never let anywhere near my family, has a poll up asking for opinions on gay marriage. They say they’ll submit the results to Congress. It’s an online poll on their own website, so the results are unlikely to … Read more

Peace on earth, good will to gay penguins

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Hanukkah began tonight, it’s less than a week till Christmas, and President Bush sent out his traditional Kwanzaa press release this morning. So in the spirit of the season, rather than tear into this National Review article on gay marriage–as others have done very effectively–I will instead post the heartwarming story of two penguins who … Read more

Follow up #2

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On a much lighter note, I would like to correct the following omissions to “Red Dawn of a Brighter Age“. Crionna reports that, “It wasn’t until 2010 that it was learned that in 2005’s “Operation Next Of Kin” George Bush snuck away from his ranch and went to New York to find the killers of … Read more

Follow up #1

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The attempt on Musharraf’s life sounds like it came even closer than I realized: The sophisticated bomb — initially estimated to contain 550 pounds of explosives — was believed to include both a remote control and a timing device to trigger it, two intelligence officials told AP. Jamming equipment in Musharraf’s limousine stopped the timer … Read more

Red Dawn of a Brighter Age

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THE DECADE IN REVIEW: Swayze Inspired Troops, Saved America

12/31/09—WASHINGTON, D.C. Senior Defense Department officials agree that the turning point in the War on Terror came in December of 2003, with the capture of Saddam Hussein in “Operation Red Dawn.” The arrest and trial of the former dictator helped sap the morale of Iraqi guerillas. But as important as Hussein’s arrest was in Iraq’s transition to democracy, the real key was the name, which came from a 1984 Patrick Swayze film about young Americans fighting a guerilla war against Soviet invaders.

“It was sort of a joke at first,” said Undersecretary of Operational Nomenclature Stephen O’Connell. “We saw one of the posters in the elevator for the monthly viewing of “Red Dawn” in Secretary Rumsfeld’s rumpus room, and thought, hey, it’s as good a name as any.”

“A month later, when we were tipped off on the sighting of Mullah Omar in Kandahar, we joked that the name might have been a good luck charm, so we decided to call that one ‘Operation Steel Dawn.’ And after that mission’s success, it just sort of took on a life of its own,” O’Connell said.

Al Qaeda leader Abu Yasir was captured in “Operation Road House” in November of 2004. The intelligence gained from his interrogation led troops to bin Laden lieutenant Abu Muzaham in “Operation Point Break” in January 2005. Muzaham, in turn, gave the military the information it needed for “Operation Dirty Dancing“, which led to Osama bin Laden’s arrest in the mountains of Aghanistan that March.

Bin Laden’s capture accompanied a profound change in the Bush administration’s political fortunes. When news of the mission’s success hit the airwaves, Vice President Cheney was on Capitol Hill, answering questions under subpoena about his role in the ’04 Halliburton Scandal. Congressional Democrats had even called for Cheney’s resignation. But those calls quickly ended when President Bush marched into the Senate, and, with a cry of “Nobody puts Baby in a corner!”, carried Cheney on his soldiers to a triumphant joint press conference.

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List O’Links

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Politics is raising my blood pressure too high today, so I give you these non-political links: 1. Kieran Healy of Crooked Timber has not read many good books this year. But I have not read more than him, so I am not smarter. 2. Slate has proof that the code name for the mission to … Read more

Primary schedule

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This American Prospect article is really worth reading if you’re at all interested in the Demcoratic primary. It gives you the calendar, the delegate count, and a brief handicapping of the race in each state. My wild guesses about when we’ll have our nominee & who it’s likely to be, in order of likelihood: 1. … Read more

Dean’s foreign policy speech

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The text is here.

Not surprisingly, I liked it. The substance is very good. I wish he’d said more about the most dangerous countries–Iraq, North Korea, Pakistan. But this was more of an outline of priorities; there will be other days for those questions. I thought he dealt with Saddam’s capture perfectly, & he rode my hobbyhorse on Nunn-Lugar and non-proliferation.

It’s hard to tell much about the style because I didn’t see it delivered. Based on a quick read-through, he’s got a bit of a big-word/wonkspeak problem which Dean usually does not have. There are also some really excellent moments, though.

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