It's in the P-I

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer today demonstrates why its editorial page is little more than a collection of fairytales. Let's start with an inspection of today's lead editorial:

Fairytale #1. We are not at war with real people, we are at war with terrorism:

But as massive as the evil Hitler's Germany presented to the world was, the horror visited on Istanbul yesterday reminds us that the enemy threatening the globe with its evil today is more difficult to identify and target.

Actually, no, the horror visited on Istanbul reminds us that the enemy threatening the globe is very easy to identify (except, apparently, for the P-I): the enemy is called Militant Islam.

Fairytale #2. Bush lied

This may be nothing more than Bush's evolving justification for the Iraq war. With any Iraq-9/11 connection debunked, along with any short-term threat posed by Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the administration is left with the "liberate-the-Iraqis" rationale.

The administration never implicated Iraq in 9/11, so what's this about such a connection being "debunked"? And the "liberate-the-Iraqis" rationale for the, uh, liberation of Iraq, has been cited all along.

Fairytale #3. The only dangerous people in the world are Osama Ben Laden and a handful of his supporters:

Still, Bush's stance could be taken by leaders in Syria, Lebanon, Libya, even Iran, as a warning that a nation need not pose a threat more demonstrable than having a non-democratic government to be considered a legitimate target of U.S. military force.

Actually, the above countries are under scrutiny not merely for being dictatorships but for sponsoring Militant Islam and terrorism.

Fairytale #4. The United States is acting "unilaterally" against the wishes of the rest of the world, who know better than we do.

Hitler's Germany wasn't defeated by a single nation. Neither will terrorism be. What should be "in plain sight" today is that international terrorism can be defeated only by a global alliance of governments willing to wage a multilateral battle against repression, injustice, human rights abuse and state support of terrorism with diplomacy, economic sanctions and military force when necessary.

Well, yes, which is why dozens of other countries are working with the US to rebuild Iraq and to defeat the other instantiations of Militant Islam. Unfortunately, not all countries have yet signed up for the fight. Fortunately, while the P-I is waiting for the Dream Team Coalition that includes France, Cameroon and Iran, the countries that have the resources and the will to wage the fight are doing so.

Fairytale #5. Islam is a Religion of Peace. In today's guest editorial which apparently passed the P-I's editorial standards for information value:

Islam is a peaceful religion. Some people misinterpret the teachings to suit their own agendas. The Christian who kills a doctor to protest abortion is not following the teachings of Jesus.

Of course, many Muslims do practice their religion peacefully. But the data from the real world informs us that the number of murders committed in the name of Militant Islam dwarves the number of doctors killed by anti-abortion Christians by six or seven orders of magnitude.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at November 21, 2003 10:49 AM