Moby loosed one of the 1,000-pound laser-guided bombs under the jet's wing. Ithomed in on the laser spot and exploded in a flash of orange fire. The operativeon the ground radioed confirmation: "That's a shack," slang for a direct hit.Moby could see a satisfying string of secondary detonations from explodingammunition. He then saw something else--enemy fire coming his way. It was a goodtime to be leaving.
Moby, you can be my wingman anytime.
--Natasha Hunter
Three Cheers for the Crusades!
When our friends at the National Review sacked the hysterical, overratedAnn Coulter recently, we always assumed--although they wouldn't admit it--thateven staunch conservatives couldn't stomach the kind of thinking that wouldproduce a line like "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders andconvert them to Christianity" (Coulter's inspired suggestion for a U.S. responseto the terrorist attacks). We were wrong.
"Since September 11 the crusades are news," Thomas F. Madden writes in arecent piece in the online incarnation of National Review. "Ask a randomAmerican about them and you are likely to see a face wrinkle in disgust." NotMadden's: "The crusades were a defensive war. They were the West's belatedresponse to the Muslim conquest of fully two-thirds of the Christian world."
This is true--and totally irrelevant. Modern distaste for the Crusades doesnot, as Madden argues, denote a politically correct distaste for Westernimperialism. It denotes a sensible distaste for bloody, vicious religious wars,whether waged by Christians against Muslims, Muslims against Christians, orCatholics against Protestants--not to mention Serbs against Bosnians, Islamistsagainst secular liberals, or Ann Coulter against Afghanistan. Indeed, what'sespecially sad about Madden's recitation of all the wrongs inflicted on medievalEurope by tenth-century Ottomans is that it mimics, probably unintentionally, theself-serving invocation of ancient defeats and insults by which strongmen likeSlobodan Milosevic and Osama bin Laden have sought to inflame their followers.We're used to the likes of Milosevic prattling on about the Turkish siege ofVienna. But why is the National Review joining the crusade?
--Nicholas Confessore
Second Thoughts
In the days after September 11, it seemed, quite a few Americans were stirredto think about joining the armed forces. "We can't give actual numbers," saysCaptain Robert Neave, a U.S. Army recruiting officer based in Landover, Maryland."But there was an increase in interest in the volunteer spirit." Alas, saysNeave, most of the volunteers were too old or otherwise did not fit themilitary's initial qualifications.
Meanwhile, Generation X seems to be hedging its bets. J.E. McNeil, executivedirector of the Center on Conscience and War (a clearinghouse forconscientious-objector information), reports that the number of calls to herorganization since the attacks have doubled--with half of the callers concernedabout a possible draft and half wondering how, as current members of the UnitedStates' all-volunteer army, they can get out of the service.
--Nicholas Confessore and Noy Thrupkaew
Look Who's Talking
"I don't think it's a damn bit funny. I don't think it's cute... . [It's]ill-mannered and rude."Republican Congressman Dick Armey of Texas on learning that Democraticlawmakers had begun referring to him as part of "the Republican Taliban"
"Barney Fag"Armey's nickname for openly gay Democratic Congressman Barney Frank ofMassachusetts
"A misguided specialinterest organization"Armey's nickname for the National Association for the Advancement of ColoredPeople
"A Marxist"Armey's nickname for Hillary Clinton
"Your president"Armey's nickname for Bill Clinton
--Nicholas Confessore
