A dispatch from Jerusalem in today's New York Times reports that "Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, is taking some steps to curb and condemn attacks on Israelis." The Times reports that Mr. Arafat "effectively denounced terrorism on Monday, stating publicly in Arabic that he does not 'agree to any form of attack on Israeli or Palestinian civilians.'"
Only an apologist for Mr. Arafat could consider this a step to curb and condemn attacks on Israelis. In fact, by specifying that he does not agree to attacks on Israeli "civilians," Mr. Arafat is essentially declaring open season on Israeli soldiers. He might as well have said, "Go kill Israeli soldiers."
Since Israel has an army of citizen-soldiers, the distinction between soldiers and civilians is lost on many Israelis. An Israeli shot and killed by a Palestinian Arab is just as dead whether the Israeli was in uniform or not.
Fun With Labels: A dispatch from Washington in today's New York Times reports on President Bush's picks to be the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force. A liberal critic of the nominations is described as being from "the Center for Defense Information, a non-profit policy group." A conservative backer of the nominations is described as being from "the Heritage Foundation, a conservative policy organization." Why is it that the Times invariably labels conservative groups as conservative but labels liberal groups with neutral labels?
Good Reason: A "military analysis" in today's New York Times reports on President Bush's proposed arms sale to Taiwan. "With good reason, Washington did not agree to sell M-1 tanks. Even Taiwan military experts cannot make a good case for the tanks," the Times reports. Well, guess there's no mystery where the Times news department stands on that question.
Sinking Feeling: An article in the metro section of today's New York Times reports that the new editor of the New York Post "has boasted about his occasional habit of urinating in his office sink during editors' meetings." The way this is written, it sounds like the urinating happened during editors' meetings. More likely, it was the boasting that happened during the editors' meetings. But you never know.