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June 19, 2013

Peter Grier and Harry Bruinius: In the end, NSA might not need to snoop so secretly after all

Howard LaFranchi: Taliban peace talks hold glimmer of hope, but also unanswerable questions

Warren Richey: Supreme Court: For right to remain silent, a suspect must speak
Meredith Cohn: Leeches are making a comeback as medical helpers

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to pick the healthiest breakfast cereal

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: Spicy Double Chocolate Banana Muffins

June 17, 2013

Rabbi Simcha Weinstein: Black to the Future: American Apparel Gets Biblical

Patrik Jonsson: Minnesota Nazi: How did Nazi hunters miss Michael Karkoc?

Kate Irby, Ali Watkins, Trevor Graff and Kevin Thibodeaux: All the ways you're being watched
Don Lee: G-8 meeting will test NSA leaks' effect on U.S. influence

Patrik Jonsson: Fort Hood shooting: Judge nixes Nidal Hasan defense strategy. What now?

Stacey Burling: Why the stigma for migraine sufferers?

The Kosher Gourmet by Lisa Abraham: Does it work? 5 new kitchen gadgets put to the test

June 14, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: A spiritual budget: Religious economics and being a ruler

John P. Martin: Hitler insider's missing diary found

Matt Pearce: NSA surveillance disclosure could affect court cases
Peter Tinti: US bounties changes strategy on (Wild, Wild) West African jihadis

Daniel Pendrick, M.D.: Memory loss? Old age may be the least of it

Lauren F. Friedman: But it's all natural! Should we have an instinctive preference for herbal remedies?

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Streisand and Alicia Keys in Israel; "Girls" Stuff; Mel Brooks, Another TV special; Superman (who is Jewish) returns --- Israeli plays his mom

The Kosher Gourmet by Sharon K. Ghag : Bored with salad? Bling it up a bit (4 effortless recipes that will result in a 'WOW!')

June 12, 2013

Stephanie Hanes: Little girls or little women? The Disney princess effect

Fred Weir: In tweak to US, Russia would 'consider' asylum for Snowden

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: What's so special about Omega-3 supplements?
Morgan Housel: What newspapers were saying when you should have been buying

Pete Spotts: How cockroaches evolved so as to bypass 'roach motels'

The Kosher Gourmet by Anjali Prasertong: Deep-dish cookie: Warm, gooey and a little over the top

June 10, 2013

Joseph A. Slobodzian: Faith healing and third degree murder: Thorny legal case
Lindsay Wise: Few options for online users to avoid spying, experts say

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: There are plenty of nutritional food bargains out there
Harvard Health Letters: Can bariatric surgery control diabetes?

Zach Murdock: Superglue helps doctors save infant's life

The Kosher Gourmet by Celebrated chef Mario Batali : As good as grilling gets: Rib eye with dry mushroom spice rub

June 7, 2013

Rabbi David Aaron: Beating jealousy

Caroline B. Glick: Wounded . . . and dangerous

Clifford D. May: Al Qaeda vs. Hezbollah
Harvard Health Letters: Fighting back against allergy season

Kimberly Lankford: Grandparents who use FSA to cover grandkid's braces and other must-know info

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom:J ewish Tony Nominees/Tony Awards; Jewish Teen Actor In Sci-Fi Flick; Jewish singer in "Voice" finals

The Kosher Gourmet by Anjali Prasertong: A tart filling so good it might not make it to the crust

June 5, 2013

John Rosemond: Mom, Dad: Talk More and listen less

Kristen Chick: Egypt court sentences 43 pro-democracy workers to prison

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: Mushrooms Have Medicinal As Well As Culinary Value
Morgan Housel: Why you never learn from your investment mistakes

Don Lee: In China, kindergarten rivalry takes deadly turn

The Kosher Gourmet by Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan: 30-Minute Coq au Vin isn't a dream

June 3, 2013

Molly Hennessy-Fiske: Military judge to consider letting Fort Hood shooting defendant represent himself

Richard A. Serrano: Pvt. Bradley Manning's WikiLeaks trial also a test for government

Mark Trumbull: Have degree, driving cab: Nearly half of college grads are overqualified
Kim Lankford: What to do when long-term care insurance premiums rise

Deborah Netburn: Study: Adults' mouth bacteria may help babies

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Contestant on 'The Voice'; Will Smith's 'Jewish movie family'; Bravo Gives Long Island Jews the Jersey Shore Treatment; Magicians and More

The Kosher Gourmet by Bill Ward: How to be as refined as the wines at a wine tasting

May 29, 2013

Andrew Connelly and Helene Bienvenu: The Little Synagogue that Refused to Die

Dennis Prager: The 'Muslims-Killed-by-the-West' Lie

David Clark Scott: Open war on teachers?
Morgan Housel: If you know only five things about investing, make it these

Sara Reardon: AGenome detectives change the donation game

Deborah Netburn: A one-way ticket to Mars? 78,000-plus and counting apply by video

The Kosher Gourmet by Bev Bennett: CHEDDAR AND CHERRY MUFFINS --- your mouth is already watering

May 24, 2013

Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb: When I didn't so 'humbly disagree'

Caroline B. Glick: Thank you, Hafez al-Assad

Diana West: From the Brooklyn Bridge to London
Morgan Housel: Why spotting bubbles is so much harder than you think

Environmental Nutrition editors: NuVal labeling to the rescue?

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Memorial Day: Jews Serving and KIA in War on Terror; Liberace Bio-Pic; Jew Wins "Survivor"; Shalom, Dr. Brothers; More

The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen: HIDE THESE FROZEN TREATS FROM THE KIDDIES!: Sangria pops; Irish cream pudding pops; mango Lassi pops

May 22, 2013

John Thorne: They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman

John Rosemond: 'Disciplinary math' adds up to parental successl

Warren Richey: Are prayers before public meetings OK? Supreme Court to decide
Rick Montgomery: Use of ADHD drugs as study aid raises concern on campuses

Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 convincing reasons you should keep carbs in your diet

Eoin O'Carroll: Scientists examine nothing, find something

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: This soup is made from one of the great pleasures of spring: A wonderful pairing of rosy color and earthy tang

May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting


Jewish World Review May 14, 2008 / 9 Iyar 5768

Academic pariahs

By Jack Kelly

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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Little better illustrates the sorry state of academia today than the fact that William Ayres is a respected figure, but Douglas Feith is a pariah.


William Ayres is a professor of education at the University of Illinois-Chicago. He is also an unrepentant domestic terrorist associated with the Weatherman group, which was responsible for bombings, robberies and murders in the early 1970s. In an interview with the New York Times published, ironically, on Sept. 11, 2001, Mr. Ayres said he regretted not setting more bombs. Also that year, he stomped on the American flag for a photo published in Chicago magazine.


About the time Mr. Ayres was wiping his feet on the Stars and Stripes, Mr. Feith became the Undersecretary for Policy in the Defense Department. After leaving DoD in 2005, he became a visiting professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.


Georgetown announced in April that it will not renew Mr. Feith's contract, despite the fact that the evaluations his students gave him were "nothing short of exemplary," according Robert Galluci, dean of the School of Foreign Service.


Many on the Georgetown faculty opposed Mr. Feith's hiring because of his role in planning the Iraq war. One of those wasn't Mr. Galluci, a top diplomat in the Clinton administration, who wrote a dust jacket blurb for Mr. Feith's new book, "War and Decision."



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The memoirs of public officials tend to consist mostly of buttocks covering and score settling, like the books by former CIA Director George Tenet, former CENTCOM commander Gen. Tommy Franks, and Ambassador Paul Bremer, former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority.


Mr. Feith's memoir contains very little rancor, which is remarkable, considering what others — including the three worthies mentioned above — have had to say about him.


To an extraordinary degree for books of this type, he admits errors by himself and by then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who chose him for the Pentagon's number three job.


Most important, Mr. Feith provides an immense amount of documentation to support the points he gently makes. There are 140 pages of notes in "War and Decision," and Mr. Feith has posted on his Web site links to all the documents which he cites.


Professor Daniel Byman, director of the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown, joked that his Web site will strike fear into the hearts of professors across America, because it makes it so easy to check footnotes. Mr. Feith is out to set the record straight, not to settle scores.


That he does so effectively may explain why the Washington Post has yet to review his book, though he is the most senior Defense department official to write about the march to war. Books by, among others, Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward (State of Denial) and Tom Ricks (Fiasco), based in large part on self serving leaks from opponents of administration policy, asserted that "neocons" within the Department of Defense politicized intelligence to build a case for war to impose democracy on Iraq.


It will come as a surprise to readers of those books to learn the most comprehensive warning of the things that could go wrong in Iraq came not from the State Department or the CIA, but from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and that it was the State Department, not DoD, which favored a U.S. occupation of Iraq rather than a quick transfer of power to Iraqis.


"The press wrote the first draft of the Bush administration and the War on Terror, but Feith's book relegates it to the recycling bin," wrote former Pentagon official Lawrence Di Rita.


The great failure was not the politicization of intelligence, but the absence of it, Mr. Feith makes clear. The CIA had little information on Iraq and concealed its lack of sources from policymakers.


The CIA's most publicized failure was its insistence that Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. But the CIA also predicted there would be mass defections from the Iraqi army when the U.S. invaded (there weren't); that the army would remain intact at war's end (it didn't), and that Iraqis would not accept political leadership from exiles (they did). The CIA also had no clue Saddam had laid plans for an insurgency.


People who are interested in the facts about the march to war will give Mr. Feith's book a careful read. Those who prefer to cling to a discredited narrative will, like the Georgetown faculty, stick their fingers in their ears and chant "nyah, nyah nyah."

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JWR contributor Jack Kelly, a former Marine and Green Beret, was a deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration. Comment by clicking here.

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