Today is the first anniversary of Steven's murder.
National Review Online has three articles on Vincent. The first is an interview with Lisa, the second is an update on Nour on his translator, who was severely wounded in the attack on Steven, and the third is a memorial by NRO editor Kathryn Jean Lopez.
There is also three-part online tribute by his fellow bloggers (part 1, part 2, part 3).
The International Federation of Journalists has published a report, "Targeting and Tragedy", on journalists killed in 2005. Steven Vincent's case is discussed on p.34, in Part Two of the report. A word of caution: the passage includes a photo of Steven's body.
According to Aidan White, general secretary of the IFJ, “In more than 90 per cent of all cases there are few serious investigations by the authorities and only a handful of the killers are ever brought to trial. A combination of police corruption, judicial incompetence and political indifference has created a culture of neglect and indifference which makes every day hunting season for attacks on media staff.”
Tomorrow, December 31, would have been Steven's 50th birthday.
At Lisa's request, I have reopened the blog to comments.
On behalf of Spence Publishing (and I think I speak for Lisa as well), let me thank everyone who has expressed their condolences in comments on this blog.
Unfortunately, a considerable number of the comments ranged from tactless to vile. Because these negative comments (and comments that responded to them) were so numerous, I have made the decision to delete all comments from the site and to close the site to further comments. I deeply regret this. We will maintain the blog for the foreseeable future, however.
Mitchell Muncy
Insurgents sabotage Baghdad, Basra fiber link
Associated Press (July 19, 2005)
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents sabotaged a fiber optics cable connecting Baghdad with southern Basra, telecommunication officials said Tuesday.
The attack occurred Monday night in the Rusmaiya area, 15 kilometers (9 miles) south of Baghdad.
All phone communications between Baghdad and most of southern Iraq were cut off due to the attack, said Karim al-Tamim, head of Wasit Province Communication services.
Al-Tamim said the fiber optic cable was expected to be repaired within a couple of days.
OK, it is now Thursday and Steven Vincent still has no email capabilities. Once the optic cables are reconnected he will be posting again, so please keep checking back. Thanks.
Steven is blogging from Basra. The length of his stay there and the frequency of his posts will depend on the security situation. Please check back regularly or use the newly-enabled syndication feature at the top of the menu on the right.
No turbans in government
We neither want to establish a religious nor a secular state in Iraq, we want a state that respects the identity of the Iraqi people and the identities of others
-- Shia political official Ali al-Dabagh, quoted by AP's Rawya Rageh
Writes Mr. Rageh:
Kurds and alliance officials said both sides agreed that Iraq would not become an Islamic state, a desire also expressed by the country's most powerful Shiite cleric - Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
Sistani, as well? This sounds like extremely good news. Let's hope this Shia-Kurdish comity holds.
It's interesting to note how the AP structured this article. Here's the lede:
Ukraine withdrew 150 servicemen from Iraq on Saturday, beginning a gradual pullout, as Shiite and Kurdish politicians refined plans to form a coalition government that officials said includes an agreement not to turn the country into an Islamic state.
In other words, the AP placed the major positive news of an initial Iraqi agreement to separate mosque and state after noting the minor fact of Ukraine's troop withdrawal. Translation: because good news helps justify the war effort, we better downplay it as much as possible.
Am I over-reading? Mention of the Shia-Kurd agreement comes in the 16th graf of the story--after we are treated to a compendium of bad news from Iraq: from suicide bombings at Mosul, to the friendly-fire death of a Bulgarian soldier to a completely egregious mention that over 1,500 U.S. servicemen have died in the country. And the MSM wonders why it has engendered so much recent criticism! It's not because of pajama-clad bloggers, but rather insufferably biased reporting.
Journalism follows--or used to, at any rate--the precepts of the "inverted pyramid," where the most important facts of a news story received the biggest space and earlier placement in a column. With the AP, however, the guiding technique seems more a "pyramid of denial."
Without a prayer
From the AP: "Thirty Muslims walked off the job at a Dell Inc. plant after alleging the company refused to let them pray at sunset."
Hopefully, this is one of those quarrels involving foreign cultural and religious traditions that American democracy somehow always works out in the end--like the minor dust-up in New York last year over a Sikh traffic cop who fought for, and won, his right to wear a turban on duty.
Still, the salat imbroglio brings a couple of questions to mind: Muslims have been working in this nation--and presumably at Dell--for years without insisting on their right to pray five times a day. Why now, all of a sudden?
Secondly, in my journeys through Iraq, Iran and Jordan--not to mention a quarter century spent in this multi-ethnic stew called New York--I've never seen Muslims suddenly cease their activities and set to praying. I've seen stores in Muslim nations temporarily close (even as customers inside continued shopping) and restaurants respectfully turn down the house music as the muezzin called to believers--and I've witnessed worshipers enter mosques for mid-day devotions. But see people on the street or at working stop what they're doing in order to observe mandatory prayer time? Never. I'm sure it happens. Maybe someone can enlighten me on this point, because I find it curious that Dell employees seem to want to behave with--shall we say--uncommon scrupulousness. Converts, I wonder?
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The Shias' Christian virtues
He who did this is a criminal. He killed Muslims and wanted to ignite sectarian strife. But God willing, we'll not allow that.
-- Ibrahim Moussa, speaking from his hospital bed after being wounded by a recent suicide bombing of a Shiite funeral in Mosul. The attack killed Mr. Moussa's brother.
(Sindbad Ahmed, Associated Press)
According to press reports, fascist "insurgents" are targeting Shia funerals, increasingly preventing these Iraqis from assembling in large family groups to bid the departed final respects. During Saddam's reign, the Baathists would frequently execute people, and forbid surviving family members from ever visiting their graves. Today, these same psycopaths are inflicting a similar form of evil that does not stop with murdering the innocent, but seeks to deny the living the ability to mourn their dead.
With this in mind, it is astonishing how few calls for vengeance--or actual reprisals--have arisen from the Shia community. Many observers--myself included--perceived Arab culture as so sunk in traditions of honor and revenge that such restraint seemed unlikely, if not impossible. So far, it seems, we have been wrong--and I, for one, am quite happy to be in error. The steadying influence of Ayatollah Sistani has much to do with the Shias' patience--one reason why I support his nomination for the Noble Peace Prize.
However, humans can only endure so much; Mr. Ahmed does quote a less conciliatory Iraqi, Sher Qassim Mohammed Ali.
I lost seven of my sons, brothers and cousins. I want to know who carried out this attack … we will avenge those who did it.
Such grief is incomprehensible. As is the evil of the men who inflict it. As is the Shias' forbearance as they turn the other cheek to receive these blows again and again and again.
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Seems not everyone agrees with my support for the "Old Scarecrow."
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Here's some news from a different sort of Arab "street" you don't often hear about. Perhaps that's the best reason for democratic reforms--they will make you rich.
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It's a few days old, but here's a story on the Kuwaiti demonstration for women's rights. Scroll down for yet another example of the MSM passing up no opportunity to run a photo of some Middle Eastern "hottie." No complaints here.
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Good news from Egypt: politician Ayam Nour is free--until his trial, at least. Not that American pressure had anything to do with this. No, of course not.
Less bling for the buck
A country that is now aspiring to an "ownership society" will not find happiness in--and I'll use hyperbole here for emphasis--a "sharecropper's society." But that's precisely what our trade policies, supported by Republicans and Democrats alike, are taking us.
-- Warren Buffet, in a letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. Noting that if the trade deficit continues for another decade, we will be paying three percent of our national income to foreigners "as a tribute for the over-indulgences of the past," he added,
This annual royalty paid [to] the world which would not disappear unless the US massively underconsumed and began to run consistent and large trade surpluses would undoubtedly produce significant political unrest in the US.
It's a sad and disturbing state of affairs when saving money risks creating social upheaval.
(Dan Roberts, Financial Times)
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The sick man of Europe
We were shocked by images of the police beating women and young people...We are concerned to see such disproportionate force used against demonstrators. We ask the Turkish authorities to carry out an arrest investigation into this event to prevent similar incidents in the future.
-- a statement by EU representatives regarding Sunday's disruption in Istanbul of a march commemorating International Women's Day
(Vincent Boland, Financial Times)
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Just as soon as we finish democratizing the Middle East
U.S. urged to end world poverty
-- headline, New York Post, March 7
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Copping a plea
Please send this message. I am not Sadam Hussein. I want to cooperate.
-- Syrian president Bashir Assad, speaking to Time magazine
