From http://OpinionJournal.com

Best of the Web Today - January 11, 2002
By JAMES TARANTO
Desperately Seeking Scandal  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28350-2002Jan10.html

As we noted yesterday, there's a move afoot to find a White House scandal amid the ruins of Enron; we're eagerly waiting to learn if Slate or The New Republic will be the first to dub it "Enronamok." But what exactly is the scandal? The New York Times' Bob Herbert and others have been blowing a lot of smoke about the supposedly cozy relationship between President Bush and Enron honcho Ken Lay, whose executives donated loads of money to the Bush campaign (and smaller loads to Democratic candidates). The implication is that Enron was buying influence. There's something strange about the logic here, though: If Enron were profiting from a quid pro quo, how come it's bankrupt?

Yesterday the White House disclosed that before filing for bankruptcy, Lay asked for help from Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans. Both rebuffed him. Rep. Henry Waxman (D., Calif.) tells  ABC News  http://abcnews.go.com/sections/business/DailyNews/enron_inquiry020111.html : "It is now clear the White House had knowledge that Enron was likely to collapse but did nothing to try to protect innocent employees and shareholders who ultimately lost their life savings."

Oh, now we get it! The scandal is that Enron didn't get special treatment from the administration. Why didn't we think of that?

Where Was Waxman Then?  http://www.drudgereport.com/flash2.htm

The Drudge Report unearths this item, from the Sept. 1, 1997, issue of Time magazine:

*** QUOTE ***

On Nov. 22, 1995 President Clinton scrawled an FYI note to chief of staff Mack McLarty, enclosing a newspaper article on Enron Corp. and the vicissitudes of its $3 billion power-plant project in India.

McLarty then reached out to Enron's chairman, Ken Lay, and over the next nine months closely monitored the project with the U.S. ambassador to New Delhi, keeping Lay informed of the Administration's efforts, according to White House documents reviewed by Time magazine.

In June 1996, four days before India granted final approval to Enron's controversial $3 billion power-plant project, Enron's gave $100,000 to President Clinton's party.

Enron denies that its gift was repayment for Clinton's attention, and White House special counsel Lanny Davis says McLarty acted out of concern for a major U.S. investment overseas, Time's Michael Weisskopf reported.

*** END QUOTE ***

Drudge adds: "McLarty was later hired by Enron. Lay also played golf with President Bill Clinton and slept in the Clinton White House. A master of political manipulation of both parties, Lay served as an adviser to the Clinton White House on energy issues. The Clinton administration, in turn, helped Enron get a contract for a gas pipeline in Mozambique and other projects, according to reports."

Making Singapore Safer  http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/01/11/ret.singapore.plot/index.html

"An al-Qaeda plot targeting the U.S. Navy in Singapore has been foiled as the direct result of intelligence gathered in Afghanistan," CNN reports. U.S. officials say the plot "included plans to attack U.S. Navy ships, U.S. Navy personnel and popular nightspots frequented by sailors. The 17,000 Americans living in Singapore and other non-Singapore residents also were among the targets."

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?  http://www.miami.com/herald/digdocs/106714.htm

At least four South Florida men with Arab names are under surveillance in connection with a possible plot to assassinate Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's kid brother, with a truck bomb, the Miami Herald reports. Florida state police heard of the purported plot from a Broward County jailbird, and they aren't sure how seriously to take his claims. "The informant has failed several lie-detector tests and may simply be trying to cut a deal with prosecutors in his own criminal case, investigators said. But the information has also panned out at least once: On Thursday, his tip led investigators to a van in Broward County that apparently contained traces of explosives."

Why Osama bin Laden Must Die  http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/11/opinion/11GERE.html

Author and ex-CIA man Reuel Marc Gerecht warns in a New York Times op-ed (link requires registration) of the danger of letting Osama bin Laden get away:

*** QUOTE ***

The Bush administration would do well not to confuse the impact of America's military victory over the Taliban with that over Osama bin Laden. Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban leader, was essentially a tribal chieftain--his spiritual supremacy over the Taliban was inextricably tied to the city and province of Kandahar. With Kandahar's fall, he and his inner circle lost the aura that allowed them to rule.

Osama bin Laden is different. The source of his power isn't tied to geography. His springs from bitterness and shame over the weakness of Islam's once glorious and militarily strong civilization, and a desire to make America taste that bitterness. He has promised to his suicide bombers and followers that America has not the will to sustain itself in a long "guerrilla war (of) fast-moving, light forces that work under complete secrecy."

If we hunt for him and bomb his sanctuaries but don't find and kill him, we will only add to his appeal and set him up for the next spectacular act of terrorism. Since we cannot avoid this conundrum, we must not temper our resolve to get him with the usual concern about the sovereignty of any foreign state where he may be.

*** END QUOTE ***

Hey Pakistan, that means you. The  Bloomberg News Service  http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?T=uspolitics_news.ht&s=APD2SkBUaUGFraXN0  reports that Islamabad "denied allowing U.S. forces to enter its territory in pursuit of escaping al-Qaeda or Taliban fighters from Afghanistan."

The Ones Who Got Away  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28264-2002Jan10.html

Those seven Taliban who were released by the governor of Kandahar weren't such big fish after all, the Washington Post reports. "Only one was a former cabinet minister and none was on the list of Taliban figures wanted by the United States, Afghan officials said." Initial reports said that the Taliban defense minister, Obaidullah, was among the group, but it turns out to have been a junior official with the same name.

Fear of a Black Hat  http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,3-2002018699,00.html

The Times of London reports that men in Kandahar are donning the "trademark black turbans" of the Taliban. "There are more than 5,000 Taleban still roaming the streets of this decrepit, bustling city," and some hope to return to power one day. The Times quotes 27-year-old Nooruddin:

*** QUOTE ***

"In the days before, we all received a letter from Mullah Omar, ordering us to take our weapons with us or hide them in the annexes of the mosques. Then suddenly on that Friday morning we received the order: all Talebs were to leave the city. In his letter Mullah Omar said he did not know what would be our fate. But many, many Talebs believe his decision to pull out of Kandahar was a good one, to save the Taleban from complete destruction. Many of us hope that one day we will resume our duty of jihad."

*** END QUOTE ***

I Ran, You Ran, They All Ran to Iran  http://usatoday.com/usatonline/20020111/3765561s.htm

"U.S. officials said Iran is providing safe haven to a small number of al-Qaeda fighters," USA Today reports. Iranian officials deny the report. America also says "the Tehran government has sent increasing numbers of intelligence operatives into western Afghanistan" in hopes of undermining the latter nation's new, U.S.-backed government.

The good news in all this is that the disagreements over Afghanistan, along with Iran's involvement in the foiled shipment of weapons to Palestinian terrorists, has, as USA Today puts it, "dealt a setback" to "the closest cooperation between the United States and Iran in two decades." We don't want to cooperate with the lunatic ayatollahs who run Iran; we want them out of there.

Help Explain Things to Colin  http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020111/ts/us_mideast_21.html

"Powell Wants Explanation From Arafat," reads the headline on an Associated Press dispatch about the seized weapons shipment. Reader S.E. Brenner suggests this explanation: "It was research for a film part." If you have a witty or imaginative explanation, e-mail it to us at  The Specter of Communism  mailto:opinionjournal@wsj.com

National Review's Jay Nordlinger notes this comment from Cuban "attorney general" Juan Escalona on the transfer of al Qaeda prisoners to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base: "It's another provocation from the Americans. I hope 15 or 20 get out and kill them." Nordlinger also notes that  Sen. Arlen Specter  http://www.senate.gov/%7Especter/ , a Pennsylvania Republican, led a delegation to Cuba last week to meet with Fidel Castro. One of Specter's guests, Philadelphia Daily News columnist  Michael Smerconish  http://dailynews.philly.com/content/daily_news/2002/01/07/local/SMER07C.htm , produced an appalling puff piece on the Cuban dictator, accompanied by a photo of Castro being presented a New York City Fire Department cap by Philadelphia lawyer  Tom Kline  http://www.klinespecter.com/lawyers/kline/kline.html , whose partner,  Shanin Specter  http://www.klinespecter.com/lawyers/specter/specter.html?48,77 , is the senator's son.

'We Quickly Issued a Revised Version'

We heard from our good friend Nancy Bobrowitz, senior vice president of Reuters, about  yesterday's item  http://opinionjournal.com/best/?id=95001707#reuter  on a Reuters dispatch referring to America giving Israel "weaponry used to kill Palestinians":

*** QUOTE ***

Regarding the Reuters story you mentioned today, as you can tell from our news file we also saw this and quickly issued a revised version.

The original story clearly ran counter to our policy, which is to report the news in an objective fashion. We view this as a serious matter and a breach of internal policies. We are taking it up with the editorial staff concerned.

*** END QUOTE ***

Here's another bit of Reuters ridiculousness, albeit not a new one: In a  Dec. 10 dispatch  http://ca.news.yahoo.com/011210/5/fhr3.html  from Kabul, Reuters refers to Osama bin Laden as a "bogeyman." Now,  bogeyman  http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=bogeyman  can mean "a terrifying or dreaded person or thing," but the first dictionary definition, and we'd guess the more common meaning, is "a monstrous imaginary figure used in threatening children." It seems terrorism is the only word Reuters is careful about using.

Muslims Define Terrorism  http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=11893

A group of Muslim scholars met in Mecca and agreed on a definition of terrorism: "It covers all acts of aggression unjustly committed by individuals, groups or states against human beings including attacks on their religion, life, intellect, property or honor," as quoted in the Arab News. Of course, the Clintonian weasel word is unjustly; to too many Muslims, it's always just to kill Jews in Israel.

Stupidity Watch  http://www.techcentralstation.com/1051/envirowrapper.jsp?PID=1051-450&CID=1051-011002D

Environmentalists now have their own Jerry Falwell. USA Today's David Mastio, writing for Tech Central Station.com, notes the following passage from Worldwatch Institute head  Christopher Flavin  http://www.worldwatch.org/bios/flavin.html 's introduction to the institute's  State of the World 2002  http://www.worldwatch.org/pubs/sow/2002/  report (emphasis Mastio's):

*** QUOTE ***

It is now clear in a way that it never was before that the world of the early twenty-first century is far from stable. At a time when we are still adding a billion people to the human population every 15 years, many societies are struggling with the difficult transition from traditional rural societies to modern, urban, middle-class ones. In many of these societies, basic human needs for food, water, health care, and education are not being met, with over a billion people living on less than a dollar a day. Moreover, the lack of democratic political representation and the concentration of economic and political power in a few hands has created a fundamental instability in many nations--an instability that echoes around the world in the form of large-scale human migration, illegal drug exports, and, increasingly, terrorism. If the lofty social and ecological goals of the Rio Earth Summit had been achieved, it is possible that the crisis of the last year would not have occurre!
d.!


*** END QUOTE ***

Bonior's Terror-Linked Donors   http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=2947801&BRD=988&PAG=461&dept_id=141265&rfi=6

The Macomb (Mich.) Daily reports that Rep. David Bonoir, a Michigan Democrat who's running for governor, decided to keep $1,000 donated by Abdurahman Alamoudi after he "secured an apology" for statements Alamoudi made in 2000 supporting the anti-Israel terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah. "The story expanded when the Lansing State Journal reported that Bonior's 2000 re-election campaign received $3,200 from an Arab-American who's allegedly linked to a terrorist group"--Sami Al-Arian, a Florida professor who founded a Muslim think tank that the FBI believed was a terrorist front group and raided in 1995. Al-Arian was never charged and "has vehemently denied that he supports terrorism."

School's Out  http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020111/ts/bush_recess_appointments_4.html

President Bush has signed two recess appointments--for Eugene Scalia as Labor Department solicitor and Otto Reich as assistant secretary of state. Senate Democrats had refused to allow a vote on either man, though Scalia commanded the support of a majority of senators and Reich probably did. The appointments allow them to serve without confirmation until Congress's next recess, at the end of the year.

Worse Than the Disease?

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/ap/20020111/pl/irradiated_mail_illness_1.html  "A package irradiated as part of the government's anti-anthrax screening gave off a noxious gas Thursday when it was opened at the Commerce Department, sickening at least 11 workers," the Associated Press reports. "The workers complained of nausea, breathing problems and throat irritation, and two were admitted to a hospital in undetermined condition, D.C. Fire Department spokesman Alan Etter said." We'd be steamed if something like this happened to us.

No More 'Wrongful Birth'   http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1752000/1752556.stm

The lower house of the French Parliament has voted to overturn a court ruling allowing disabled Frenchmen to sue, claiming that they have a "right not to be born." We noted the ruling   last month  http://opinionjournal.com/best/?id=95001580#french  under the headline " 'French Civilization': An Oxymoron," which, it turns out, may have been too harsh.
 
Double Suicide Doublespeak   http://www.citypaper.net/articles/011002/sl.loose.shtml

The Philadelphia City Paper notes this paid obituary that appeared in the New York Times:

*** QUOTE ***

Chester W., Rear Admiral, age 86, and his wife, Joan Labern Nimitz, age 89, of Needham and Wellfleet, Mass., and formerly of Boca Grande, Fla., [died] by mutual consent on January 2, 2002 at their home in Needham."

*** END QUOTE ***

(Elizabeth Crowley helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Corey Friedman, Scott Smith, Michiel Visser, Damian Bennett, C.E. Dobkin, Raghu Desikan, Paul Music, S.E. Brenner, Brian Hatch, Brian Rom, Yehuda Hilewitz, Richard Wood, Kyle Olson, Zena Hitz and Kenneth McKenna. If you have a tip, write us at  George Gilder  mailto:opinionjournal@wsj.com : A corporate crime wave, or a search for political scapegoats? (link requires registration)
- Daniel Henninger  http://opinionjournal.com/columnists/dhenninger/?id=95001708 : Blame the Great Society for America's self-absorption.
- Peggy Noonan  http://opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=95001715 : Americans are exquisitely sensitive--just not to each other.

And on the Taste page:
- Review & Outlook  http://opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=95001710 : Televising the Moussaoui trial is a dreadful idea.
- Tony & Tacky  http://opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=95001711 : An eco-warrior surrenders.
- Tunku Varadarajan  http://opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=95001714 : You better believe Paula Zahn is sexy!
- Jay Jennings  http://opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=95001712 : Why shouldn't parents stay longer at work?
-Naomi Schaefer: Catholic schoolteachers want more money. Vouchers would help--but at a cost.
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