Rael Jean Isaac

From Agee to Libby

The ironies in the indictment of Scooter Libby have been missed by press and pundits with a short memory. The law of which he has run afoul, the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 (a la Martha Stewart he is not even accused of violating the law but of being less than candid about who said what to whom in his grand jury testimony) was passed as a result of the activities of Philip Agee, a former CIA agent turned enemy of the West. "I aspire to be a communist and a revolutionary" Agee told Esquire in June 1975. He was even blunter in an interview with the Tagesanzeiger of Zurich: "The CIA is plainly on the wrong side, that is, the capitalist side. I approve KGB activities, Communist activities in general, when they are to the advantage of the oppressed." In line with his views, Agee published Inside the Company:CIA Diary with 26 pages of CIA employees and contacts around the world and followed it up with Dirty Work and Dirty Work II, that named over 2,000 CIA employees. Understandably, Congress was eager to deter others from following Agee's example.

Now an unquestioned patriot is caught up in the dragnet of a law intended for our enemies.

Black Humor of the Month

President Mugabe of Zimbabwe was invited to address the UN Conference on Hunger in Rome. There would have been no one more appropriate to address a league of Third World dictators on such subjects as "How to Turn a Thriving Agricultural Economy into a Wasteland," "The Political Uses of Food Aid," or "How to Cut Your Population in Half." Given the conference’s aim of reducing hunger, the choice of Mugabe was, in a horrible sort of way, funny.

Competing in the ludicrous department, the BBC has denied it harbors pro-Israel bias. That's right, not the anti-Israel bias with which it reeks, but bias in favor of Israel. What happened was that the Muslim Council of Britain attacked the BBC as “pro-Israel” for showing a documentary that pointed up the Muslim Council of Britain’s support for terror groups (while claiming to oppose terrorist acts).

Outrage of the Month

A poem applauding the Nazi extermination of the Jews, included in a book of children's poetry called Great Minds (! ), is being distributed to schools in England. Sample lines: "Make them take many paces for being one of the worst races, on their way to a gas chamber, where they will sleep in their manger...I'll be happy Jews have died." The publisher's defense is that the poem is written from Hitler's perspective and shows the young author's ability to feel empathy.

Norwegian Teacher Fights Back

Meanwhile, in Norway, a school that showed its multicultural sensitivity by banning a teacher from wearing a small Star of David around his neck, is in the news, as the targeted teacher contemplates a lawsuit. Last year Kjeli Gislefoss, who heads an adult education center, told teacher Inge Telhaug to stop wearing the Star of David because it "provokes the many Muslim students at the school....” Telhaug, who is not Jewish, protests: "I see it [the Star of David] as the oldest religious symbol we have in our culture, because without Judaism there would be no Christianity."

Correction

In "The Silence -- and Worse -- of American Jews" (September 2005) we incorrectly said Mortimer Zuckerman had been opposed to the "disengagement" from Gaza. We gave him too much credit. Our thanks to Mort Klein of ZOA for pointing out that Zuckerman had been a steadfast proponent of Sharon's plan within the President's Conference. This writer had jumped to her mistaken conclusion because Zuckerman's U.S. News and World Report had published an article sharply critical of disengagement, which was highly unusual in the mainstream press.

Christians within Islam

In Egypt 5,000 Muslim rioters rampaged through two largely Christian neighborhoods in Alexandria, following a week of protests over a stage play performed two years earlier (!) at St. George's Coptic Church, one of seven churches attacked. The play told the story of a young Christian who converted to Islam and became disillusioned.

In supposedly tolerant Indonesia, three Christian girls had their heads chopped off. More and more churches are being forced to close. Jim Jacobson, president of Christian Freedom International, says: "Religious persecution targeting minority Christians in Indonesia, particularly in West Java, is both systemic and systematic." He reports that at least 35 churches in Bandung and neighboring regions have been closed by Islamic mobs during the past 12 months alone.

How Wrong Can You Be?

The following gems are culled from President Bush's interview with Al Arabiya, which was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on October 24.

"President Abbas showed me something in the Oval Office, which is, one, a deep desire to defeat terror and promote democracy..."

"I've been very impressed by the caliber of the Palestinians I've met, and I've met quite a few...And they're peaceful, they really are peaceful."

"I talk to Jim Wolfensohn [the President's emissary to Gaza] a lot. Now, there's a practical man. And the greenhouse is a good example of practical application of U.S. desire to help get the economy going.” [The President makes no mention of Palestinian mobs destroying the just-purchased-for-them greenhouses while PA police stood by.]