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Feb. 8, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Lofty ideals must be followed with grounded applications

Clifford D. May: Letter from the West Bank
Steve Rothaus: Judge OKs plan for gay man, lesbian couple to be on girl's birth certificate
Gloria Goodale: States consider drone bans: Overreaction or crucial for privacy rights?
Environmental Nutrition Editors: Don't buy the aloe vera juice hype
Michael Craig Miller, M.D.: Harvard Experts: Regular exercise pumps up memory, too
Erik Lacitis: Vanity plates: Some take too much license
The Kosher Gourmet by Susie Middleton: Broccoflower, Carrot and Leek Ragout with Thyme, Orange and Tapenade is a delightful and satisfying melange of veggies, herbs and aromatics
Feb. 6, 2013

Nara Schoenberg: The other in-law problem

Frank J. Gaffney Jr. : A see-no-jihadist for the CIA
Kristen Chick: Ahmadinejad visits Cairo: How sect tempers Islamist ties between Egypt, Iran
Roger Simon: Ed Koch's lucky corner
Heron Marquez Estrada: Robot-building sports on a roll
Patrick G. Dean, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: How to restore body's ability to secrete insulin
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: 3 prostate-protecting diet tips
The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen 7 principles for to help you make the best soup ever in a slow cooker
Feb. 4, 2013

Jonathan Tobin: Can Jewish Groups Speak Out on Hagel?

David Wren: Findings of government study, released 3 days before Newtown shooting, at odds with gun-control crusaders
Kristen Chick: Tahrir becomes terrifying, tainted
Curtis Tate and Greg Gordon: US keeps building new highways while letting old ones crumble
David G. Savage: Supreme Court to hear case on arrests, DNA
Harvard Health Letters: Neck and shoulder pain? Know what it means and what to do
Andrea N. Giancoli, M.P.H., R.D.: Eat your way to preventing age-related muscle loss
The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington Baked Pears in Red Wine and Port Wine Glaze: A festive winter dessert
Feb. 1, 2013

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb: Redemption

Clifford D. May Home, bloody, home
Christa Case Bryant andNicholas Blanford Why despite Syria's allies warning of retaliation for Israeli airstrikes, the threats are likely hollow
Rick Armon, Ed Meyer and Phil Trexler Ex-police captain cleared by DNA test is freed after nearly 15 years
Harvard Health Letters: Could it by your thyroid?
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: When 'healthy food' isn't
Sue Zeidler: Coke ad racist? Arab-American groups want to yank Super Bowl ad (INCLUDES VIDEO)
The Kosher Gourmet by Nealey Dozier The secret of this soup is the garnish
January 30, 2013

Allan Chernoff: Celebrating 'Back from the Dead Day'

America isn't a religious country? Don't tell Superbowl fans!
Mark Clayton Cybercrime takedown!
Germany remembers Hitler rise to power
Israel salutes U. N. --- with the one finger salute
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: Get cookin' with heart-healthy fats
Ballot riles Guinness World Records
The Kosher Gourmet by Elizabeth Passarella Potato, Squash and Goat Cheese Gratin
January 28, 2013

Nancy Youssef: And Democracy for all? Two years on, Egypt remains in state of chaos

Fred Weir: Putin: West is fomenting jihadi 'blowback'
Meredith Cohn: Implantable pain disk may help those with cancer
Michael Craig Miller, M.D. : Ask the Harvard Experts: Are there drugs to help control binge eating?
David Ovalle Use of controversial 'brain mapping' technology stymied
Jane Stancill: Professor's logic class has 180,000 friends
David Clark Scott Lego Racism?
The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali The celebrated chef introduces us to PANZEROTTI PUGLIESI, cheese-stuffed pastry from Italy's south


Jewish World Review May 15, 2009 / 21 Iyar 5769

Obama Gets It Right for Once

By Linda Chavez


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | If there was one incident that led to the decline in support for the Iraq War at home and abroad, it was the 2004 publication of pictures of U.S. soldiers taunting and abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Those photos, broadcast endlessly into homes around the globe, depicted grinning American soldiers, male and female, next to naked Iraqi prisoners stacked in piles on the floor. Others showed snarling dogs intimidating prisoners. And perhaps the most infamous revealed a female soldier, cigarette dangling from her curled lips, leading a naked prisoner by a dog collar around his neck.


The soldiers who engaged in this rogue, illegal conduct were tried, convicted, and went to prison. But the damage they did can never be fully expiated. Now, a freedom of information filing by the American Civil Liberties Union threatens to open this old wound. The ACLU filed suit in 2003 to obtain the release of all photos related to military detention, and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals found in its favor last September. The Bush administration sought to reverse the ruling, but the Obama administration said in April it would not fight the release of the photos. Then, President Obama reversed course this week, instructing the Justice Department to challenge the release in court on the grounds of national security.


President Obama now says that the publication of these photos "would not add any additional benefit to our understanding of what was carried out in the past by a small number of individuals." He added that the most direct consequence of releasing them "would be to further inflame anti-American opinion and to put our troops in danger." He did not come to this conclusion without help — namely from Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and Gen. David McKiernan, outgoing American commander in Afghanistan, who pushed Defense Secretary Robert Gates to urge the administration to fight the release of the photos.


Better late than never. Obama's reversal comes after weeks of controversy over his Justice Department's decision to release Bush administration memos giving legal justifications for the use of enhanced interrogation techniques on enemy combatants. While the two actions strike some left-wing critics as contradictory, in fact they demonstrate the fine line Obama is trying to walk on Bush-era decisions.


On the one hand, Obama seems eager to punish Bush political appointees for aggressively prosecuting the war on terror. On the other hand, he's nervous about doing anything that might provoke more violence against American troops, especially if it might redound to the detriment of his own reputation and that of his administration. If Obama acquiesces in the release of the photos and terrorist acts against American soldiers or civilians abroad follow, he knows he'll be blamed.


But the Obama decision also reflects the larger shift on the left from blaming soldiers for their involvement in a sometimes unpopular war to trying to show some respect for military personnel while still attacking the political leaders who sent them to war. Although Obama is not old enough to remember the Vietnam War personally, he's nonetheless learned some of the lessons from that era.


Anti-Vietnam War protestors spat on American soldiers, literally and figuratively. Many burned the American flag, urged the victory of the communist guerillas, and ignored the torture of American prisoners of war in North Vietnam. Some, like Obama friend and political ally William Ayers, went further, engaging in grotesque acts of violence against military installations in the U.S. and later against the police. The American people overwhelmingly rejected the excesses of these protestors, electing Richard M. Nixon twice.


With some exceptions — notably Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who blamed American troops of committing atrocities in Haditha before investigations and courts martial cleared them, and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who accused American troops of terrorizing Iraqi children — most Democrats have tried to sound supportive of American soldiers. I'd like to think this support is sincere, that they appreciate the sacrifice of the men and women who serve this country so the rest of us can be safe. But even if President Obama's decision not to release the photos was simply a cold, political calculation, we should be glad he made it.

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JWR contributor Linda Chavez is President of the Center for Equal Opportunity. Her latest book is "Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics". (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.)

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