Archive | October, 2004

Over at the Yin Blog, law prof Kevin Heller points to this article in the L.A. Times about the Bush Administration apparently delaying an offensive in Iraq until the election is over.

I have a few quick and tentative thoughts on the Indymedia server seizure story that Eugene discusses below.   First, it is important to recognize that this is an Italian and Swiss investigation, not a U.S. investigation. U.S. officials are involved only because the U.S. is obligated to help the Italians and Swiss under international treaties […]

I appreciate Orin’s post about Kerry’s experience as a lawyer fighting organized crime; and it might indeed shed light on why Kerry used the odd analogy that I discussed in this post. Nonetheless, even if Kerry was hearkening back to his experience prosecuting organized crime — including organized crime that ran illegal gambling, and perhaps […]

This story about the seizure of some Indymedia servers is intriguing and potentially troubling, depending on the relevant facts, but maddeningly vague about those facts (though the vagueness might well be because the Web hosting company is quiet, not because the BBC knows stuff it isn’t telling): The FBI has shut down some 20 sites […]

In two posts below (see here and here), Eugene questions John Kerry’s underlying thinking about the war on terror based on a somewhat odd analogy Kerry used in a recent New York Times interview. Here is the key quote from the Times story: When . . . Kerry [was asked] what it would take for […]

Here’s a thought experiment related to the Kerry quote below. Let’s say that in response to a sharp increase in the number of rapes, or of racist anti-black violence, or anti-Semitic violence, a President John Kerry had declared War on Rape / War on Racism / War on Anti-Semitism (a somewhat more metaphorical war than […]

From a long and interesting article in today’s New York Times Magazine: When I asked Kerry what it would take for Americans to feel safe again, he displayed a much less apocalyptic worldview. “We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they’re a […]

Earlier today FactCheck.Org revised its assessment of the vice presidential debate, correcting the error I noted here. Alas, while the posting notes it was modified on October 9, FactCheck.Org does not acknowledge that it made an error. That’s unfortunate for an organization that prides itself on catching others’ mistakes. Still, the correction is appreciated.

David Brooks offers a very different take on the Duelfer report than most stories I’ve read, concluding: I have never in my life seen a government report so distorted by partisan passions. The fact that Saddam had no W.M.D. in 2001 has been amply reported, but it’s been isolated from the more important and complicated […]

I like how ABC broke down its post-debate poll numbers into results from Kerry supporters and results from Bush suppporters. When asked to name the debate winner, participants from each side remained true to their team: Kerry won Bush won Tie Among Kerry supporters 85% 2 12 Among Bush supporters 1 84 13

Michael Froomkin links (via Proof Through the Night) to this story from a Seattle TV station about a local library that has fought off an FBI subpoena for a list of names and addresses of who took out a book on Osama bin Laden.   According to the story, a patron of the library reported to […]

NPR covers the story here. Thanks to reader Michael Fay for the link.

Go here for their latest, which is pretty good. Thanks to Right Side Redux for the pointer.

Franklin is the fellow under investigation for allegedly passing U.S. state secrets to Israel via the pro-Israel lobbying group, AIPAC, a charge that I, along with everyone else familiar with AIPAC, find highly implausible, at least to the extent intentional violations of the law are said to be involved. Here’s a bombshell about the story […]

In today’s NYT: The press has been curiously reluctant to report my constant public support for the president’s strategy in Iraq and his policies to fight terrorism. I have been involved in the war on terrorism for two decades, and in my view no world leader has better understood the stakes in this global war […]