Day: July 19, 2004

Anonymous: Surrender!

USA Today has an interview today with Anonymous, the CIA terrorism expert whose written a book, Imperial Hubris, taking to task the Clinton and Bush administrations for the way the United States has fought Al Qaeda. So what does Anonymous think we should do? Surrender.

Q: So how should we attack it [Al Qaeda]?

A: It’s not a choice between war and peace, its’ a choice between war and endless war. The goal shoudl be to undercut the potential of bin Ladenism to grow, and the only way to do that is to address those policies have have been idnetified in the Muslim world as anti-Muslim or anti-Islamic. Looking out 10, 20, 30 years, it’s only going to get worse if these policies stay in place.

That’s just plain stupid. Look, if a policy is bad or needs to be re-examined, then fine re-examine it or change it. But you can’t go around changing policies simply because they are likely to incite terrorism.

I was reading a report the other day about how violence against abortion clinics has been rising somewhat. Should we alter our abortion laws because anti-abortion extremists 10, 20, 30 years out are going to continue to target abortion clinics and doctors? Hell no.

Al Qaeda representatives have written of their hatred of the United States because it is a secular democracy where everything from homosexuality to pornographic magazines are tolerated. Should we go about further restricting American liberties to appease a bunch of religious nutcases? I don’t think so.

Source:

Q&A with ‘Anonymous.’ USA Today, July 19, 2004.

The Developing World Needs More Condoms

At the XV International AIDS Conference in Thailand, Population Action International released a report claiming that developing nations are only receiving about 10 percent of the condoms needed to make a serious dent in the transmission of HIV.

In its 2004 update to its Condoms Count report, Population Action International estimated that the developing world needed 10 billion condoms in 2002, but aid agencies supplied only about 2.5 billion condoms.

It notes that in South Africa between 1998-2002, the number of donated condoms amounted to only 2.6 condoms per man per year (in contrast, more than 60 condoms are produced each year in the United States for each man).

PAI and others blame the United States in part for the Bush administration’s emphasis on abstinence as a solution to the AIDS crisis.

Source:

World falling short on condom provision. NewScientist.Com, July 12, 2004.

Counting Condoms: Donors Coming Up Short. Press Release, Population Action International, July 14, 2004.