Stories from 2002-07-09

"Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne was widely derided after he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to ring the Capitol with concrete and steel barriers. The move closed two main streets through the city and caused traffic headaches. 'I'm embarrassed that our governor feels he needs to hole up in the state compound like a frightened king,' local real estate agent Robin Rowe wrote in a letter to the editor of The Idaho Statesman. 'The rest of the nation must look upon the good people of Idaho as irrational reactionaries headed up by a paranoid leader.' " [more]

"One problem with this prejudice (as with Osama bin Laden's) is that it blinds the bigots to any understanding of what they deride. If Islam were really just the caricature that it is often reduced to, then how would it be so appealing as to become the world's fastest-growing religion?" [more]

"Now George Bush has joined Sharon in endorsing the notion that any small bunch of fundamentalist extremists can veto a peace process. Of course, had the U.S. insisted as a precondition for withdrawal that the Vietnamese end acts of violence against Vietnamese civilians who supported the U.S., we'd still be fighting that war." [more]

"But hawk interpretations are wrong and will only contribute to the United Statesí decline, transforming a gradual descent into a much more rapid and turbulent fall. Specifically, hawk approaches will fail for military, economic, and ideological reasons." [more]

"While there have been several reports of civilian casualties ever since the military campaign in Afghanistan began on Oct 7, 2001, the sheer casualty figures in the July 1 attack — the Afghan government estimates 48 people were killed and 117 injured — have raised fears that Washington's precarious battle for minds could tip the wrong way." [more]