Reidblog [The Reid Report blog]

Think at your own risk.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Reductio ad absurdum

I really hoped I'd never feel that I needed to blog about this woman again (because I think she's nuts, and crazy people scare me...) and perhaps I'm just new to the Debbie Schlussel scene. But I seriously think that it's time for this lady to be forcibly medicated (even other right wing bloggers can't seem to stand her...)

But having already hanged Jill Carroll as an Islamist sympathiser and traitor for not reading the Schlusselian script both during and immediately after her captivity in Iraq, Schlussel earlier this week moved on to putting in her two cents about who should replace Katie Couric at Today. Answer: Not Campbell Brown. Why? Because Campbell Brown is an Islamist sympathiser and traitor. Or more accurately, she's a "Saudi concumbine." I know it sounds like I'm making that up, but she's quite serious:

... Now that reports are in that Katie Couric will be the new "CBS Evening News" anchor, we hope they won't pick former Saudi Concubine Campbell Brown to replace her.

As we wrote here, Brown--the former girlfriend of Saudi spokesman and apologist Adel Al-Jubeir--is one of the candidates to replace the "Today" host. When Brown was NBC News White House correspondent, she let her "dating" (euphemism?) of Al-Jubeir get in the way of covering the real news on the now-Saudi King Abdullah's visit to the President's ranch in Crawford, Texas. It was a clear conflict of interest. ...

(Sure hope she likes Meredith Vieira...) If that's not enough, Ms. Schlussel also threw in a gratuitous ad hominem against the late Peter Jennings -- who can't defend himself because he's dead...

It's been established that pillow talk is apparently the most effective form of political speech in Brown's case. We've already experienced the worst with Peter Jennings, formerly boyfriend of Palestinian politico Hanan Ashrawi, and his biased coverage. We don't need more with Campbell Brown--a less suave, less intelligent Jennings in a skirt.
Now, she's married to former Bushie Dan Senor. But don't let that fool you. Senor worked for the Carlyle Group and also shilled for former U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham (later, Energy Secretary, and now, lobbyist to Islamists) and his pan-Islamist legislation (including millions in USAID money to Hezbollah), as his Press Secretary. That included apologism for the fact that Abraham was one of only two of 100 U.S. Senators who refused to sign a letter to the President asking him to tell Arafat to stop the homicide bombings. (Some on Capitol Hill say that, under his "leadership," the HAMAS-front group, CAIR, became a force on Capitol Hill. What a legacy to be proud of.)

Well that setrtles it. Send that Campbell Brown to GITMO -- stat!

Back to Jill Carroll. Schlussel's indictment of her rests on a three part argument, which she believes should be "obvious" to those demanding that she apologize (which she ain't gonna do):

1) Jill Carroll worked, by her choice, for an Islamist newspaper that said she shares its anti-American, anti-Israel views (no reason to doubt that, she worked for them by her choice);

2) Jill Carroll was close friends with an American who worked for Code Pink (funding and helping terrorists);

3) Jill Carroll was unique among ALL American hostages in Iraq in getting the mammoth effort by U.S. Islamist groups (all of whom support terrorists and oppose the war in Iraq) to secure her release. They know what she stands for.

(Photo captions: left-- Jill Carroll in a hijab. right -- Debbie Shlussel "undercover" in a hijab) The "Islamist" paper she's referring to is the Jordan Times, which Schlussel claims is both "anti-American and anti-Semitic," and which had the cheek to call for Carroll's release based on her "true belief in Arab causes," and her "love of Arab culture." So Carroll worked for a paper Schlussel doesn't like, has friends Schlussel doesn't like and received support for her release from people Schlussel doesn't like (Muslims) and therefore, she's a terrorist sympathiser. OK...

So let's break down that argument, shall we?

Schlussel's claim that the Jordan Times is an enemy paper is based on the fact that it's the state owned, state run mouthpiece of the Jordanian government, which "spews the official position of the country's Hashemite King Abdullah." Well here's what other Americans fighting the "global war on terror" have to say about the Hashemite king:

"... no other leader in the Middle East is as committed to the development of special forces in the global war on terror as His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein, King of The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan." -- defense contracting industry publication Special Operations Technology

"The United States has had no closer ally than Jordan in the war on terror, and Jordan will find no better friend than the United States at this difficult hour." -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

"...King Abdullah is a leader on behalf of peace and is carrying forward the tradition of his father, King Hussein. ..." -- President George W. Bush

So if the Jordan Times is the official mouthpiece of that Jordan, than it's hard to see how it, or Ms. Carroll, by Ms. Schlussel's reasoning, is an Islamist lackey...

Now if we were truly doing reducto ad absurdem reasoning, just debunking point one of Schlussel's argument is enough to drown the whole thing. But let's treat seriously, for just a moment, Schlussel's third contention -- that the positive comments of Arab and Muslim writers about Carroll proves she's a terrorist lackey:

Schlussel starts with that January 15 Jordan Times appeal on Carroll's behalf, (here is a link to actual exceprts ... Ms. Schlussel provides no link in her posts... only a totally unrelated link to a piece about jailed journalists), it reflects the opinions of the writers, not of Ms. Carroll. Many Arabs believe the Bush family (W excluded) to be pro-Arab, as does Ms. Schlussel. Does that make the Bush family friends of the terrorists?

There was no better friend to the Arab and Muslim world than Margaret Hassan, who was vigrously lobbied for by prominent Muslims (as was Danny Pearl of the WSJ -- before being killed. The difference with Ms. Carroll seems to be the P.R. strategy of her captors, particularly after the killing of peace activist Tom Fox -- plus the massive amount of attention the American media paid to one of their own. It's far more logical to assume that those things played a part in Carroll's capture, and that appeals like those of the man who originally hired Carroll at the Jordan Times on January 18 and a second one from the Jordan Times on February 1 simply helped Carroll's cause, because they raised the public relations value of her release.

But what all of these op-eds have in common, is that none of them were written by Jill Carroll. Sure, the appeals indicate that she had strong relationships in the Muslim community from which she could draw as a reporter, but to go beyond that, logically, you'd need to read, not what others wrote about Carroll, but what she has written herself. Schlussel has so far provided nothing written by Carroll to back up her charges. Where are the anti-American writings of Jill Carroll? Every post by Schlussel contains (often repetitious) verbiage from other people she claims are "friends" of Carroll, "Islamist" reporters in Detroit who claim they appealed for her release, and others whose crime is being "elated" at her freedom. She doesn't even produce evidence of their supposed connection to Carroll herself. And again, she posts not one word written by Carroll herself. (I will, however, later down the post...)

But why stop there? Point two of Schlussel's argument is just as weak: the company Carroll keeps - namely her friendship with the late peace activist Marla Ruzicka (whom Schlussel derides as "Treasonatrix Barbie" and whom association with, like Campbell Brown's boyfriends, makes her a terrorist sympathiser.) Really? (Then again, this is the same woman who believes that if you like Michael Jackson and/or soccer, you hate America and love the terrorists...)

Well it turns out Carroll never even met Ruzicka until she went to Jordan in late 2002 to learn Arabic and learn more about the culture ahead of the war. When Ruzicka was killed in a suicide bombing in 2005, Carroll organized a memorial service for her. And it turns out that Carroll was never involved in Code Pink or in Ruzicka's cause in Iraq (documenting civilian casualties). Not one shred of evidence has ever been produced that she was at any time, a participant in any cause, other than reporting on the war.

Even Ruzicka's activies fall far short of the anti-American, pro-Islamis agenda charged by Schlussel (the WSJ editorial page's senior writer Robert Pollack famously called her a "peerless and unique ambassador." From Wikipedia (available on the Internet, where even Debbie Schlussel can find it):

In July 2002, Ruzicka began working with USAID and the Senate Appropriations Committee to allocate money to rebuild the homes of families that had suffered losses as a result of military action. After receiving CIVIC's first report, Patrick Leahy - the Democratic Senator for Vermont - sponsored legislation to provide $10 million in U.S. aid to innocent Iraqis who had been harmed by the US military.

Following the fall of Baghdad to the US-led coalition in April 2003 she started working with her Iraqi work partner, Raed Jarrar. Their CIVIC activities focused on the organization of door-to-door surveys, involving more than 160 volunteers, to obtain first-hand accounts of civilian casualties that had been killed, injured, abused, displaced, or made homeless as a result of military action. She was in Iraq prior to the war with the Code Pink organization.

Does Schlussel charge that the GOP-controlled Senate Appropriations committee would fund activites by a known terrorist sympathiser? Here is what Jill Carroll wrote about her friend, Ruzicka. Try and spot the anti-war sentiment:

I first met her in Jordan, just before the war. A reporter friend told me that I should get to know this young activist who made a name for herself working for Global Exchange, the US organization that sent field workers to Afghanistan to count civilian casualties.

After the Iraq war, she moved her push for an accurate count of civilian casualties to Baghdad. At a time when the International Committee of the Red Cross and United Nations were leaving Iraq, Marla started the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict. Through that, she helped Iraqi families navigate the process of claiming compensation from the US military for injuries and deaths.

When she died Marla was traveling to visit some of the many Iraqi families she was working to help. Lately, she had been attempting to aid the relatives of a toddler whose parents were killed after the mini-bus they were traveling in was hit by what was believed to be an American rocket. The baby was thrown out of a window to save her life.

It's still unclear exactly how Marla and her driver, Faiz, were killed. But early reports indicate that they were traveling on the dangerous route between Baghdad and the airport when a suicide car bomber tried to attack a military convoy. Faiz was an Iraqi Airways pilot, who at one time worked as an interpreter for Monitor correspondents in Iraq.

I was always amazed at how composed Marla remained amid the violence and confusion of Iraq. One of my favorite memories of her was when I was sitting in the middle of the Palestine Hotel lobby in Baghdad, surrounded by a confusing swirl of soldiers, officials, and reporters. Fear swept over me. What was I doing here? I had come as a freelancer, with no experience covering a war. Just as I was quietly freaking out, Marla appeared in the dusty, harried scene. She was the picture of calm in a perfect French braid and long blue dress. She was like a breeze blowing through, so tranquil, so clean.

Later in the fall of 2003 when I moved here and was despairing of my sputtering freelance work she would always say, "Jill, good for you. You're working so hard. I'm so proud of you." She was the eternal supportive cheerleader. One night she slipped a note in my hotel mailbox. It was a small essay of encouragement and praise from out of the blue, scribbled in black ink on a scrap of notebook paper.

I found out that Marla had died several hours after she didn't show up for a party that she planned at the Hamra, a hotel occupied mostly by foreign journalists. I was tired and wasn't going to go. My friend Scott went and called me about 11 p.m. He said no one had heard from Marla since about 2 o'clock that afternoon. The other journalists and I all feared a kidnapping. I went over to the Hamra lobby and asked at the reception desk if they knew Marla's driver's family. They said his brother had just called because they were worried they hadn't seen him. A bad sign.

Then we got a call from the US military saying a woman fitting her description had been in an accident, but that she was in the military hospital and in good condition. We were relieved. In Baghdad's strange logic, we all thanked God it was a car accident and not a kidnapping. Then we received another call. It was the military again. This time they said the woman was dead on arrival.

The only thing we can say now is at least she died doing what she wanted, doing what she really, really believed in. If she were still here, she'd be most worried now about her driver's family and who will take care of all the other Iraqi families she was working with.

Unless you believe that any reporting of American rockets and Iraqi deaths (the same Iraqis we're so proud of "liberating") is treason, you haven't much to go on there. More anti-American screeds by Carroll:

"Shiites, Kurds forge ahead", CSM
"Violence threatens Iraqi coalition", CSM
"Politics, Mesopotamian Style", US News & World Report

And let's say, for the sake of argument, that Carroll was skeptical on the war, or liberal in temperament. The first would put her in tune with two-thirds of the American public. The second would make her a fairly typical young journalist. Neither would make her a terrorist tool.

I'm spending so much time on this drivel by Schlussel because at this point, even people in the journalism field are taking serioulsy the ridiculous charges that Jill Carroll is a "terrorist tool." I was stunned to read several posts on TVSPY last night that made exactly the Schlussel claims. If people in the profession can't smell a mob rush when they see one, and if people like Schlussel are taken seriously by anyone besides a few loopy online commenters, we're in truly bad shape.

And last but not least, Ms. Schlussel comes full circle with a critique of Couric's clothing choices:

By the way, is this the way a "serious news anchor" should be posing? Just asking.

Yes, Debbie. Just asking. This coming from the woman who titled whe column "Debbie Does ... Politics..." Now I can think of a lot of reasons to criticize Katie (or at least her new job offer), but her clothing isn't one of them...

Debbie, on the other hand, appears to need a mental makeover.

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