Matthew Duss

Bing West, via Max Boot, argues that the outrage over waterboarding is being blown out of proportion: “In my book, The Village, I described how in 1966 the police chief Thanh of Binh Nghia village used what is now called waterboarding, rubbing lye soap into a wet cloth and placing it across the face of […]

Yoram Schweitzer, writing in Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth, throws some cold water on claims of victory against al-Qaeda: “Al-Qaeda has already achieved several of its goals in Iraq, and while these may be circumscribed, they will not be reversed entirely. The global jihad has indeed been reinvigorated and been granted a new pretext and new context […]

Responding to Ezra ‘s and my posts yesterday about Marty Peretz‘s attack on Desmond Tutu, James Kirchick assists his editor-in-chief: “Duss’s and Klein’s criticism consists mostly of ad hominem attacks and a defense of Tutu based primarily, if not entirely, on the fact that he’s…well…Desmond Tutu.” No: Marty Peretz claimed that Desmond Tutu, in a […]

Ezra, I don’t think Obama specified which Rocky-Apollo fight he was referring to. Given that Obama identifies as Rocky, we can probably assume he means the fight Rocky won, in Rocky II. In any case, he wasn’t referring to the outcome of the match, as much as to the hype around it, and how that […]

Following up on Spencer Ackerman‘s very good article, I think it’s important to understand that, while President Bush will of course treat any good news from Iraq as a vindication of his own “steadfastness,” the tribal revolt was unforeseen by anyone who took part in planning the surge, and essentially fell into our laps. Through […]

Kay Steiger has a good piece on the unpleasant reality of perpetual campus icon Che Guevara (which reminded me of one of my favorite t-shirts.) James Kirchick, while apparently agreeing with Steiger’s main points, takes some pot shots at her style (which is pretty funny for anyone who’s familiar with Kirchick’s own writing, which can […]

Fake Middle East expert Michael “Islam is very unpopular in Iran nowadays” Ledeen on America’s imminent victory in Iraq: “As evidence of success mounts, skeptics often say that while military operations have gone well, there is still no sign of political movement to bind up the bloody wounds in the Iraqi body politic. Recent events […]

Next week is IslamoFascism Awareness Week, David Horowitz‘s latest temper tantrum against the American university system for not recognizing his genius and offering him tenure. Advising the young conservative faithful to gird their loins for next week’s battles, Horowitz typifies neoconservatives’ tendency to present differences of ideas in the language of combat: “We are all […]

Testily responding to Andrew Sullivan‘s charge that John “The Melissa Rivers of Conservatism” Podhoretz‘s being hired as the editor of the magazine that his father edited for almost 35 years is the result of nepotism, David Frum writes: “Norman retired from the magazine 12 years ago. He has no power to hire or fire editors. […]

Cliff May demonstrates the fundamental dishonesty of conservatives’ attempt to connect Iraq to the war on terror: “Al Qaeda is on the horns of a dilemma. Last month, some 30 of its senior leaders in Iraq were killed or captured. Now, Osama bin Laden faces a tough decision: Send reinforcements to Iraq in an attempt […]