From http://OpinionJournal.com

Best of the Web Today - December 28, 2001
By JAMES TARANTO
CAIR Package  http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011228/ts/attack_bush_guard_dc_4.html

The Council on American Islamic Relations is stirring up a tempest in a teapot over a Christmas Day incident in which an American Airlines pilot refused to allow an armed Arab-American Secret Service agent on his flight. "American Airlines said it prevented the agent from flying because of discrepancies in the standard forms he filled out identifying himself as an armed law enforcement officer and it denied that the decision was related to his ethnicity," Reuters reports. When his papers checked out, he took another flight.

Although the pilot's fears proved to be unwarranted in this instance, his cautious approach strikes us as eminently sensible. As the  San Francisco Chronicle  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2001/12/28/MN60124.DTL  reports:

*** QUOTE ***

A federal probe conducted last year shows that concern about bogus law enforcement credentials is justified. Undercover inspectors using fake law enforcement credentials and badges "readily available" on the Internet were able to declare themselves "armed law enforcement officers" and skirt security checkpoints at 19 federal agencies--including the CIA, FBI and Pentagon--and two airports, according to the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress which conducted the operation.

"At no time time during the undercover visits were our agents' bogus credentials or badges challenged by anyone," Robert Hast, the GAO's special investigations chief, told Congress last year. Working in teams of two or three, the agents were able to get minivans and satchels that could have been packed with explosives and biological agents past checkpoints.

The agents were waved around metal detectors at Washington's Reagan National Airport and Orlando (Florida) Airport after presenting tickets issued in their undercover aliases and fake credentials.

"Our agents could thus have carried weapons, explosives, chemical/biological agents, or other dangerous objects onto aircraft," GAO manager Gerald Dillingham warned a Senate committee on Sept. 20, nine days after the terrorist attacks in New York and on the Pentagon.

*** END QUOTE ***

In a typically hysterical  press release  http://cair-net.org/asp/article.asp?articleid=559&articletype=3 , CAIR "demanded an apology from American Airlines for removing a Muslim Secret Service agent from a flight apparently based on religious and ethnic profiling":

*** QUOTE ***

In a letter faxed today to American Chairman Donald J. Carty, CAIR wrote: "We are concerned that American Airlines would arbitrarily deny boarding to a Muslim passenger, particularly someone who has one of our nation's highest security clearances, merely because of his religion or ethnicity. The passengers on Flight 363 would actually have been more secure had Agent ------ been allowed to board."

*** END QUOTE ***

The decision to keep the agent off the plane may have been erroneous, but it was hardly "arbitrary." After all, he was carrying a gun!

This incident may point to a need for the Secret Service and other law-enforcement agencies to work with airlines on improving ID procedures to avoid future such incidents. But why in the world is this issue being raised publicly by a group like CAIR, which has an agenda other than the enforcement of laws and protection of American security?

CAIR claims to know the identity of the agent in question, which has not been reported in the press; "for security reasons, CAIR is not releasing his name," the press release says. Did the agent take his grievance to CAIR instead of his superiors at the Secret Service? If so, this strikes us as conduct ill befitting a law-enforcement agent. A Secret Service man is supposed to be prepared to take a bullet for the president. Is it too much to ask that he take a later flight?

Jet-Setting Dishwasher
ABC  http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/airplane_explosives011228.html ,  CNN  http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/12/27/inv.reid/index.html  and the  Times of London  http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2001570018-2001601809,00.html  all have accounts of alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid's activities over the past year. For a loser who worked as a dishwasher in Amsterdam, he sure seems to have been loaded. "French intelligence officials have tracked Reid's movements over the last year, saying he traveled to Israel, Egypt, the Netherlands and Belgium, spending money freely, though he did not seem to have the income to fund the trips," ABC reports. CNN has more on the Israel junket:

*** QUOTE ***

Israeli Security Services, in conjunction with the FBI, are looking into what Reid did during a 10-day trip to the country in July, Israeli government sources told CNN.

Reid roused suspicion when he traveled from an unidentified country to Israel on its national airline, El Al, according to airline spokesman Nahman Klaiman.

"Our security people were aroused and [Reid] went through a security check, which included a personal check as well as removal of his shoes, which were checked separately," Klaiman said.

*** END QUOTE ***

Reid was in Amsterdam from August through November, then went to Brussels Dec. 5 and Paris Dec. 16. "A day later, he paid 13,000 French francs (about $1,750) in cash at a Myream Voyage, a travel agency on the rue des Poisoniers in the 18th arrondissement, or section, in Paris for a two-way plane ticket from Paris to Miami to Antigua." On Dec. 22 he tried to fly from Paris to Miami--and ended up instead in a federal prison in Boston.

The Times adds Turkey, Pakistan "and possibly Afghanistan" to Reid's itinerary. The paper cites Israeli intelligence officials who are concerned "that the Islamic fanatic may have tried to make contact with Hamas terrorists who are now known to have developed recent links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network." The Times also adds this intriguing detail:

*** QUOTE ***

On December 7 [Reid] travelled to Brussels and stayed a week, during which time he obtained a new British passport from the UK consulate there. His previous passport, which had pages torn out of it, was affixed to the new one, which police believe was Mr Reid's clumsy way of trying to disguise where he had been.

The Israeli visa stamp was still in the old document, as was the Pakistani visa.

*** END QUOTE ***

According to the ABC report, "Government officials told The Associated Press the nonmetal fuses for the explosives allegedly in Reid's shoes may have become wet, and been too moist to light, preventing him from detonating the charges." All this suggests the Reid may not be the brightest candle on the birthday cake.

His Dad Is Bad, but His Mom Is Mum  http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2001570018-2001602513,00.html

The Times of London also has some details about Reid's upbringing, and in several important respects it resembles that of Marin mujahid John Walker. Like Walker, Reid is a child of divorce, his parents having split when he was four. Also like Walker, Reid had paternal support for his "spiritual journey"; as the Times put it: "Mr Reid said that he had encouraged his son to join the faith because he felt it rejected violence." And like Walker, Reid has a father who is eager to make excuses for him now: "My son is a determined boy and I can imagine him being determined enough to blow himself to bits," the elder Reid tells the Times. "But I just can't believe that he would want to hurt anyone else in doing it unless, that is, he has been brainwashed."

Two differences: Whereas Walker's father is a lawyer, Reid's is a common criminal. "He was absent for much of Richard's childhood after spending time in prison for a series of car thefts and burglaries." And unlike Walker's mother, Reid's mom, Lesley Hughes, has comported herself with dignity since her son's arrest.  Reuters  http://sg.news.yahoo.com/reuters/asia-80865.html  quotes a statement released through Hughes's lawyers: "As any mother would be, she is deeply shocked and concerned about the allegations made against her son, but has no further comment to make."

The Meaning of Multiculturalism  http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/12/28/wreid128.xml&sSheet=/portal/2001/12/28/ixport.html

The London Telegraph, in an article on Reid, has a telling quote from Abdul Haqq Baker, the moderate chairman of the Brixton mosque, where Reid and "20th hijacker" Zacarias Moussaoui worshipped before taking a more militant route:

*** QUOTE ***

Mr Baker said: "We have a lot of converts and ex-convicts. Many just turn up with their bags straight from prison. They come because we are tolerant and we teach in English. But because they are new to Islam they can be easily led. Extremists tell them that we are wrong and they are right. They brainwash them and take them to study groups away from the mosque where they learn to hate.

"Their teachings are extremely severe. To appreciate this, you should know that they say things like, 'Those who have AIDS and want to embrace Islam, the best thing they can do is go to Palestine, strap a bomb to themselves, and blow themselves up.' "

*** END QUOTE ***

Sins of Commission?  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32508-2001Dec27.html

The Defense Department has issued draft procedures for the military commissions that will try noncitizens suspected of terrorism, and it appears civil libertarians were crying wolf. Under the draft procedures, the Washington Post reports, suspects "would be presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, could be sentenced to death only by a unanimous vote of the commissions' members and would have the right to an appeal."

Take a Cold Peshawar  http://uk.news.yahoo.com/011228/80/cmppz.html

Two more Afghan officials claim Osama bin Laden is in Pakistan. Reuters quotes Gen. Mohammad Fahim, the defense minister, who backs up his spokesman's  comment yesterday  http://opinionjournal.com/best/?id=95001649#where : "After fleeing from Tora Bora there is a strong probability that Osama is in Peshawar," Fahim tells the wire service. "Osama is out of our control. To a large extent it depends on Pakistan. America can pursue him with the help of the Pakistani government."

CNN  http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/east/12/28/inv.bin.laden.location/index.html  quotes Abdullah Tawheedi, "a deputy head of intelligence in Afghanistan," as saying that "he has received 'reliable information' that the terrorist leader paid a 'large amount' of money to buy his way out of Afghanistan." Larger than  $25 million  http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/topten/fugitives/laden.htm ?

Our Friends the Chinese--II  http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200112/24/eng20011224_87389.shtml

The Chinese Foreign Ministry is disputing a report by the Washington Times'  Bill Gertz  http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20011221-95780908.htm  that Beijing sold arms to al Qaeda after Sept. 11. A report in the People's Daily quotes Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue as calling the Gertz report "groundless" and "with ulterior motives."  Matt Drudge  http://www.drudgereport.com/flash.htm  reports that Gertz stands by his story.

Eat Your Heart Out, Christo  http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/dec/28taj.htm

The Press Trust of India reports that "the Taj Mahal, the 16th century monument of love, would be covered by a battle green cloth to protect it from possible air strikes if an Indo-Pak war breaks out." There's a precedent for the Taj camouflage: "During the previous Indo-Pak war in 1971, the monument was covered with green clothes [sic]."

Stupidity Watch
Michael Scott-Joynt  http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,625233,00.html , bishop of Winchester, is the British left's answer to  Jerry Falwell  http://opinionjournal.com/best/?id=95001143#falwell . In his Christmas Day sermon, excerpted in the London Observer, Scott-Joynt blames the West for Sept. 11:

*** QUOTE ***

Would we be in this situation, if western--north American and European--electorates, all with deep Christian pedigrees, had not encouraged, supported or at least allowed our governments, over so many decades, to develop our standard of living at the expense of millions in the southern hemisphere? And if we had not sold their rulers armaments on such favourable terms, and with so little forethought? Cruelly evil though they were, I find that I have to understand the events of September 11 as a judgment upon us; and so, to understand these weeks, this Christmas, as a critical moment, an opportunity for a fresh beginning, its character caught in those words we have read: "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus."

*** END QUOTE ***

Meanwhile, the Times of London's  Anatole Kaletsky  http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,248-2001600195,00.html  manages to label just about everyone on the right as a "fundamentalist"--over matters that have nothing to do with religion (emphasis ours):

*** QUOTE ***

The right-wing zealots among the Republican leadership, on the other hand, see the present war fever and terrorist paranoia as a golden opportunity to impose market fundamentalism and anti-tax economics. . . . President Bush seems to lack the intelligence or the leadership ability to overcome this political fanaticism and economic sabotage. He cannot force the Democrats to support the right-wing fundamentalist agenda of the Republican leadership. And he seems unable or unwilling to force Republican fundamentalists to compromise with mainstream Democrats.

*** END QUOTE ***

We suppose calling people "fundamentalists" isn't as bad as calling them "Taliban," but this is all just a substitute for thought, much like throwing around words like "fascist" or "Nazi" to describe people who are nothing of the sort.

Homelessness Rediscovery Watch

*** QUOTE ***

"If George W. Bush becomes president, the armies of the homeless, hundreds of thousands strong, will once again be used to illustrate the opposition's arguments about welfare, the economy, and taxation."-- Mark Helprin  http://opinionjournal.com/columnists/mhelprin/?id=65000507 , Oct. 31, 2000

"Hooters Girls Give a Hoot About the Hungry; Hooters employees served meals on Monday at the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen in downtown Mount Clemens."--headline and subheadline,  Macomb (Mich.) Daily  http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=2841542&BRD=988&PAG=461&dept_id=141265&rfi=6 , Dec. 25, 2001

*** END QUOTE ***

Flue Season?  http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-122301fire.story

Overlawyered.com  http://overlawyered.com/ , among others, spotted this one: The wackos on the Berkeley, Calif., City Council have "banned log-burning fireplaces in new homes and other buildings, believing the warmth of wood fires comes at the cost of clean air," the Los Angeles Times reports. Jami Caseber, the "environmental activist" who led the drive, also wants to ban the use of existing fireplaces.
 
The ordinance is drawing some opposition from bobo Berkeleyites, because it also applies to wood-burning cooking equipment. It "has incensed Alice Waters, owner of Berkeley's Chez Panisse restaurant and a world-famous advocate for organic foods. Waters said she burns half a cord of oak and fig weekly in her grill and oven, which have no pollution-control equipment." Although her appliances are grandfathered under the just-passed law, she tells the Times she's "totally opposed" to the law. "We've had a fundamental connection between fire and food since the beginning of time. Until we stop driving cars, I'd rather live in a world with wood-burning ovens."

(Elizabeth Crowley helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Robert McCarthy, S.E. Brenner, David Arredondo, C.E. Dobkin, Damian Bennett, Raghu Desikan, Rosslyn Smith, George Miller, Richard Wood and Robert Owen. If you have a tip, write us at  Amir Taheri  mailto:opinionjournal@wsj.com : Westerners who praise al Jazeera have bought a bill of goods (link requires registration).
- Peggy Noonan  http://opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=95001651 : Postcard from Mexico.
- Tom Bray  http://opinionjournal.com/columnists/tbray/?id=95001650 : Christie Whitman embraces Al Gore's agenda.

And on the Taste page:
- Review & Outlook  http://opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=95001652 : The salvation of Flight 63 is the legacy of Flight 93.
- Tony & Tacky  http://opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=95001653 : John Ashcroft, the other man of the year.
- Tunku Varadarajan  http://opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=95001654 : A school concert turns into a course in the coarse.
- Cynthia Crossen  http://opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=95001655 : We've come a long way from "The Spoon: Its Use and Abuse."
- Tom Bethell  http://opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=95001656 : Will Silicon Valley liberals force out a remarkable priest?

Plus: James Taranto in the  Australian  http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,3501139%255E7583,00.html  on Time's "person" of the year (you read it  here  http://opinionjournal.com/best/?id=95001640  first!).
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