In other related news....Caterpillar stocks up over 50% in one year;

http://quote.money.cnn.com/quote/quote?symbols=CAT>=1yr

Why, exactly, can't you say she's an idiot? A dangerously naive one, perhaps, but an idiot nonetheless. She chose fascism over democracy. She embraced a cult of violence even as she convinced herself she was on a pacifist's mission. She chose the side of racism over true multiculturalism. The absolute best that can be said is that she was a dupe; in a word, a useful idiot.

Special contempt should be reserved, however, for the likes of Steve Niva. He is no better than the recruiters of suicide bombers; too gutless themselves to do the task, they send off their impressionable charges and then bask in the glory of their martyrdom.

Hmm... here's my take. What is more interesting for me about Rachel Corrie is the political disaffection she exemplifies, not her poorly-developed political ideology. This article from The Stranger is probably the best examination of the meaning of Ms. Corrie's life and death. I think we should mourn her death. It is sad that an bright girl could be led so horribly astray by radicals (the International Solidarity Movement) with a skewed sense of morality.

She simply hated America and all things related. I wonder what goes on in those deranged minds.

Although, if you look at today's issue of the Times (the day after Niva's entry), you will see four letters to the editor each one taking Niva to task for accuracy and Corrie to task for naievety. Good that the feedback is so immediate and strong.

It's amazing how many people can have such strong opinions about this woman without having walked in her shoes or seen the things she saw. I have no idea if she made the world better or worse, but having read her letters to her mother, it is clear that the perspective she had was nothing if not sincere, passionate and informed by raw experience. Choosing fascism? Hating America? Those are just things to say to make somebody's life and death irrelevent. Let those in glass houses throw the first stone.

Christopher,
Why don't you ask the victims of Arab Muslim terrorist attacks in Israel if they wish walk in Rachel Corrie's shoes. The same bloody shoes she wore when she helped hide terrorists who were hell bent on killing Jews. I have an idea, maybe you can dig up Rachel’s body, borrow her shoes, and offer the victims of her beloved terrorists a chance to walk in her shoes. Most of the victims can’t walk in her Rachel’s shoes; because they are dead or maimed by nails covered in rat poison that cut through their flesh while riding a bus to work or eating at a diner or dancing at a club-all because of the Arab Muslims Rachel so passionately protected. I am sure the victims of Rachel’s favored terrorists would never walk in her shoes, even if they could. I have pasted a link to which you can see my favorite pic of that passionate and sincere Rachel with her raw hatred for America-tell me if you can see her shoes! http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/weblog.php P.S. The children cheering Rachel on behind her are most likely first to throw stones!

she had was nothing if not sincere, passionate and informed by raw experience.......hum, a shallow accolade befitting Janet Jackson too.

Sorry, Christopher, Corrie was a muddled thinking foolish kid from a privileged background, bored, looking the the big action. She found it.

Her parents, having to be a root cause of her demise, traveled to one of the world's oldest and oiliest terrorists to present him(Arafat) with a memorial plaque, as if her death meant anything to him but a public relations opportunity.

A martyr, hardly. Staring down the IDF on a mission makes her more Darwin award. Note, that even her beloved Palestinians aren't that stupid.

Er, what exactly did the wall have to do with her death? She died in Rafah, on the Gaza/Egypt border, nowhere near the controversial wall, which is over in the 'west bank'. The military operation she was trying to interfere with was looking for weapons tunnels from Egypt to Gaza, not building a wall.

If the various groups that profess to be " non-violent " "neutral " and fostering peace such as the ISM, CCMEP etc were such, i would have no problem. However,these groups advocate hate,facilitate terror,protect international terrorist outlaws and make no secret of their desire for the destruction of Isreal and Jews. Corrie stood for this and her parents are determined to carry on her legacy.

I see Niva claims that "the bulldozer lifted [Corrie] up and drove over her repeatedly with its plow down" (emphasis mine). The story evidently hasn't shrunk in the telling.

I quote Mollie McClain, regarding her article on Rachel Corrie: Sometimes I saw her as a headstrong little kid, other times dancing to Pat Benatar songs in a crazy outfit in front of Israeli tanks, just to make the soldiers laugh. Sometimes I saw her as a mom or the president of the United States." Obviously one is insane and the other WAS insane as well as psychotic.

IF ONE GOES TO THE ESC WEB SITE AND CLICKS ON "FACULTY" YOU WILL FIND THEIR CV'S, BIOGRAPHIES ETC. STEVE NIVA' IS BELOW: APPEARS HE NEVER GOT BEYOND HIS BA FROM A THIRD RATE COLLEGE. THIS IS TYPICAL OF MOST FACULTY AT ESC AS WELL AS MOST PRO PALESTINIAN WRITERS. THEIR WRITINGS TEND TO BE BASIC, SIMILIAR IN LEVEL TO A 12TH GRADERS: VERY PASSIONATE, CONCRETE MORALISTIC BUT INTELLECTUALLY SIMPLISTIC.
"I began teaching at The Evergreen State College in 1999, which marked a return for me to the Pacific Northwest after nearly 16 years. I was born in Seattle, Washington in 1966 and then lived around the country and, in fact, the world, until returning to Everett, Washington in 1975. Between that time, I lived in Los Angeles, Germany, San Francisco, Phoenix, Jerusalem, and Washington DC. I remained in Everett until I graduated from Everett High School in 1984. Then I decided to go eastward and attended college at The University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. I stayed on the east coast for 16 years. After graduating from college I lived in Washington DC for two years before moving to New York City to attend graduate school at Columbia University. I returned to Washington DC for 4 years, working on my dissertation and teaching at American University and Georgetown University. I took a one-year position at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts and then I was offered the job at Evergreen. I am happy to be back.

Check out the story about htis at this website
http://www.swornenemy.org/htsrv/trackback.php/84

I am new to this whole bulldozer death story, and have spent my entire night reading up on interpretations from both sides. This is my conclusion: Every twenty-something kid wants to get abroad and discover the world they haven't seen. I went to Europe and had a blast for six weeks. The kids who travel to the mideast to protest, become instant heroes to their Palestinian admirers, and are invited into their homes for keftah- kabob etc....a kind of cultural exchange with the added feature of being idolized (so they think). My thought on this is that they don't truly admire the American and British. Quite beyond using them for pro Palestinian PR, they are seen, even Palestinian children, as buffoons...lifestyle protesters visiting for a short while. Look at the photo of Rachel Corrie protesting so vociferously. The kids around her are like "okay, psycho woman is here". I mean, picture the boredom of Ann Arbour Michigan. You are not recruited by these summercamp activist groups to confront the North Koreans on their border, that would be too dangerous. Instead, you are able to soak in the history of the ancient middle east, get a backpak with a trendy coffee thermos, just like Indiana Jones, and squat every morning at the break of dawn...find the right middle eastern music to play on your walkman..open up that thermos and pour a hot cuppa joe. It's like a Folger's commercial, and we all know it.

You take sides with terrorists, and that's what you get. Besides, didn't her mother ever tell her to look both ways for bulldozers before crossing the street?