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May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review April 21, 2009 / 27 Nissan 5769

Leave them to history

By Paul Greenberg


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Barack Obama and his attorney general, Eric Holder, have decided not to start a purge of CIA agents who protected the nation's security during the War on Terror. Excuse me, that's not terror any more but Man Caused Disasters and/or Overseas Contingency Operations, to use the current, approved terms in this new era of Hope, Change, Audacity and Euphemism.


This was the week that our still new but rapidly learning president announced that "at a time of great challenges and disturbing disunity, nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past." An obvious point, but one worth stating.


As the president explained: "The men and women of our intelligence community serve courageously on the front lines of a dangerous world. Their accomplishments are unsung and their names unknown, but because of their sacrifices, every single American is safer. We must protect their identities as vigilantly as they protect our security, and we must provide them with the confidence that they can do their jobs."


Just how making public our interrogation techniques, and informing the enemy just how far CIA agents may go and no further, will makes Americans safer escapes me, but it does make sense not to prosecute those assured they were doing their lawful duty.


The campaign is definitely over, and responsibility is setting in. Our new president and commander-in-chief is not about to declare war on the CIA.


Naturally those still in campaign mode on the left will be fuming at so sensible -- and responsible -- a statement from the president. The ACLU, the Keith Olbermanns and vindictives in general sound furious (as usual), but surely calmer heads will recognize the beginnings of wisdom, and restraint, in the president's words.


Those who work to protect us while we sleep deserve praise; instead, the angrier talking heads would hand them indictments. Mr. Obama may find himself the target of their ire for the next few news cycles before they get back to Bush-bashing.


The president and all the president's men have good, practical reasons for not pursuing this witch hunt any further. For if a president were to order up a raft of criminal indictments for our cloak-and-dagger types, he would do more than just demoralize the country's intelligence community. He would invite the next administration -- particularly if the pendulum of power swings back in the other direction, as pendulums are known to do -- to indict his own attorney general, intelligence chief, director of the CIA, or scapegoat of the day for doing their duty in the fight against terrorists.


And where would the cycle of vindictiveness end? The criminalization of the political process would just go on, just as purge follows purge in totalitarian societies.


No, better to end the recriminations here and now. Maybe with one more vague bow in the direction of those angry emotions the president appealed to when he was still waging his charismatic campaign. To quote another part of his statement: "We have been through a dark and painful chapter in our national history."


By dark and painful, do you think the president meant the past eight years during which our intelligence agencies prevented another disastrous act of terror on these shores? Or the harsh tactics that turned a defiant Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, into the most talkative of prisoners, unveiling al-Qaida's plans, hopes and table of organization with considerable pride and enthusiasm?


No need to go into detail. A nice, palliative phrase like "a dark and painful chapter of our history" can mean whatever the listener wants it to. It is part of Barack Obama's promethean genius as a rhetorician that he can please all while saying nothing.


Yes, grave injustices were surely committed during the War on Terror, and more are in the offing as the war continues by another name. It happens in every war. But would those injustices be righted by turning criminal prosecutors loose against those who have been doing their duty? Imagine how they would have been pilloried if they had not prevented another major terrorist attack on American soil. Think of the finger pointing in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.


Both the CIA and the Defense Department have in-house investigations, even courts-martial, to look into abuses of the laws of war and the derelictions of secret agents. Let's leave it to those agencies to pursue any wrongdoing in this war on terror -- not start a witch hunt.


There are some offenses best addressed by courts of law and others that are better left to the higher court called History. It would be an act of presumption, another word for audacity, for a president to infringe on its jurisdiction. Clio, muse of history, tends to get the last word. And on some matters, like this one, should.

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