The Weekend...

Today’s editorial in the WSJ (Five Years On - There have been far more victories than setbacks since September 11) is a must-read. Excerpts:

Today, there is less confusion than before about al Qaeda's purposes, particularly after its vengeful turn on fellow Muslims in Casablanca, Riyadh, Amman and Baghdad. But there remains a great deal of doubt about our own purposes. There is doubt whether the methods employed by the Bush Administration to defeat al Qaeda have worked, or been won at too high a moral and diplomatic price, or backfired by giving would-be jihadis fresh reasons to hate us. There is also too much doubt whether broadening the focus of the war to rogue regimes hasn't been a colossal distraction. And there is a deeper, creeping doubt whether the goal of "convincingly defeating" our enemies is even plausible.

So it's worth taking stock of what has--and hasn't--been achieved in five years. We presume that bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman Zawahiri, are alive, probably in the Pakistani hinterland. But we know that Mohammed Atef, the mastermind of the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in East Africa, was killed in Afghanistan in an American air strike. We know that Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, one of the masterminds of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, is in U.S. custody, as is Abu Zubaydah, who allegedly planned the failed millennium attacks. We know the U.S. captured Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the al Qaeda operations chief and mastermind of September 11, as well as his successor, Abu Farraj al-Libbi. We know the U.S. killed al-Libbi's senior deputies, Haithem al Yemeni and Abu Hamza Rabia. We know that Midhat Mursi, author of al Qaeda's explosives manual, is dead.

This is not an exhaustive list.

[…]

The last year has seen some setbacks, which go far to explain the overglum mood surrounding the current anniversary. Yet it is by no means clear that those failures owe to some flaw in the overall U.S. strategy as opposed to tactical mistakes and the simple fact that we are fighting a determined, resourceful enemy that is itself adapting to our moves. The victory for Hamas, the troubles in Iraq, the uncertain outcome in the recent war in Lebanon, and above all the renewed aggression of Iran all pose major challenges. Mr. Bush's party may pay a price for those setbacks in November, though the President has begun to fight back, as he shows in our interview today.

You get a two-fer here. Be sure and read the interview with the President, as well. Coz there’s interesting things in there, like this: “Intriguingly, the president broke a little news on the subject of Iran, acknowledging that he personally signed off on the U.S. visit this week by former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami. The trip has angered many conservatives because Mr. Khatami presided over the nuclear weapons development and cheating that Mr. Bush has pledged to stop. Why let him visit?” The answer is there. And more.

Another good editorial: “Rosen: Liberals Fly Their Colors.”

Just recently, there was another flag flap, this time at Carmody Middle School in Jefferson County. Eric Hamlin, a geography teacher, gave equal prominence in his classroom to the flags of the United States, Mexico, China and the United Nations. Understandably more sensitive to Colorado law in the wake of the North High incident, administrators at Carmody instructed Hamlin to remove the foreign flags. He refused and was suspended for insubordination. After a few days, a compromise was reached, all was forgiven and permission was granted to display the foreign flags on a "temporary" basis as a learning tool, consistent with a specified exception in the state statute.

[…]

He said he was concerned that by giving special treatment to the U.S. flag, "we're sending the message that America is No. 1, everything else is below that." Of course we are! Hamlin might disapprove, but I suspect most Americans want precisely that message to be sent in our government schools.

Hamlin said displaying the flags of other nations promotes "tolerance," one of the themes of his course. "The flags should be able to celebrate diversity," he added. This is a fashionable term in educratic circles these days, a first cousin to "cultural relativism" and "moral equivalence."

[…]

We've had this debate before over the treatment of patriotism in our schools. Patriotism: love of country - our country. That doesn't mean blind obeisance. You can teach about our misdeeds without obsessing about them. The point is: Americans have so much more about which to be proud than ashamed. And that's exactly how it ought to be presented in our schools.

Ah, diversity! Mr. Hamlin’s approach is simply back-asswards. I’m all for inclusion, I don’t have a problem with diversity, and tolerance is a virtue every child should learn. But I sure as Hell reject cultural relativism, and I’m all about patriotism. Mr. Rosen’s editorial is correct: “most Americans want precisely that message to be sent in our government schools.” And if a teacher, instructor, or professor feels s/he cannot deliver that message then they have no business teaching in an American public school. Find a madrassa somewhere. No, maybe that isn’t an option. Because, as near as I can tell, cultural relativism or tolerance just aren’t core values in a madrassa. Get the point?

Today’s Pic: Adobe mission church in Abiquiu, New Mexico. June 6, 2004. Abiquiu was the home of Georgia O’Keeffe, renowned New Mexico artist. The church was built in 1888.