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May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: 'Noodles,' Asian style is a carb sub, sure. But they are also amazingly delicious and colorful

April 19, 2013

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: When violence seems the only answer

Caroline B. Glick: Why Obama's visit to Israel had no impact on public opinion or government policy

Morgan Housel: Gold collapse: The start of something big?
Harvard Health Letters: Can you die of a broken heart?

Pete Spotts: Livable super-Earths? Two candidates among Kepler's latest finds

Nora Schultz: Oxytocin helps beat booze cravings

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: Middle Eastern cuisine meets Italian delicious with this lentil and eggplant pastitsio

April 17, 2013

Shira Rubin: Too much of a good thing? 'Palestinians' realize downside of foreign aid boom

Geoffrey Mohan: Can computers decode dreams? Researchers take a first step

Morgan Housel: BAD NEWS: EVERYONE IS RIGHT!
Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 heart-healthy eating tips help cut saturated fat but not taste

Michael Craig Miller, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Told your child has sensory processing disorder? Seek a second opinion

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Corn and Curry Add Zing to Chilled Soup

April 15, 2013

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Death of Education?

Kristen Chick: Egyptian Christians respond with harsh words to attack -- rocks, Molotov cocktails, and gunfire -- against main cathedral

Marcy Darnovsky and Karuna Jaggar: High Court to decide if you should own your DNA
Howard LaFranchi: US bracing for more Russian blowback after taking action against 18 more human rights violators

Kristin Ohlson : The loneliest fight

The Kosher Gourmet by Dana Velden: A tasty, rich dish that hints at spring's arrival while still anchored in a favorite winter staple


Jewish World Review May 2, 2007 / 14 Iyar, 5767

Between Tenet's lines

By Jonah Goldberg


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | "Intelligence professionals did not try to tell policymakers what they wanted to hear, nor did the policymakers lean on us to influence outcomes."


That's just one of many inconvenient sentences in former CIA Director George Tenet's memoir, "At the Center of the Storm." It's inconvenient because it runs counter to the central anti-Bush narrative of the last five years — that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney cooked the intelligence to justify the Iraq invasion. But you can be sure that such inconvenient truths won't get much play in the fog the book is already generating, at least not from Bush's critics or the bulk of the media. Full disclosure: I've only read some chunks of the book and watched interviews. But from what I can tell, a White House press flack could — and no doubt will — cull numerous quotes from the book that ultimately support Bush.


For example, Tenet argues that the rationale for war was "never a question of a known, imminent threat; it was about an unwillingness to risk surprise" from enemies like Saddam Hussein in the wake of 9/11. Tenet says former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's presentation before the United Nations reflected the best intelligence available. He says that the studied opinion among experts was that those infamous aluminum tubes were best suited for nuclear centrifuges and that the controversial allegation that Iraq sought "yellowcake" uranium from Niger was hardly central to the intelligence community's belief that Iraq was seeking nuclear weapons.


Indeed, Tenet argues that the collective opinion of the intelligence community in 2002 was that, if Hussein could get access to his domestic supply of uranium — unreliably sequestered by international inspectors — he could have had nuclear weapons as early as 2007.


In other words, this supposedly anti-Bush book holds that were it not for the war, Hussein might have nukes today. And had he succeeded in getting fissile material from some third party, he could have had a bomb within a year of obtaining the material.


But none of this matters. Nor do Tenet's splashier indictments of Cheney and other administration officials. People have made up their minds. Recollections, arguments, rationalizations, recriminations and all the other ingredients of the typical cover-your-behind D.C. memoir will have little effect. The only thing that can change people's minds about the war is the war itself.


On road trips, once you've concluded that the driver has taken a wrong turn, no amount of assurances from the driver or quotes from guidebooks will convince you otherwise. The only thing that can change your mind is the wisdom of hindsight that comes from arriving at your destination and deciding the voyage was worthwhile after all.


That is the key distinction between supporters and opponents of the war. Opponents believe that we've reached the end of the road. The adventure is over, and it won't get any better. So it's time to come home. Defenders of continuing the war believe that we have a ways to go and that the effort can — and must — be salvaged. After all, few mainstream critics of the war dispute that if Iraq could be saved and eventually democratized, the war would have been worth the painful price. Rather, they argue that the U.S. can't rescue anything worthwhile from the mess it has made and that our continued presence will only make things worse.


For some, this view is adamantine. Senate Majority Leader Harry "the war is lost" Reid recently declared on CNN that even if Gen. David Petraeus were to report his efforts in Iraq were working, Reid wouldn't believe him. And, keep in mind, Reid speaks glowingly of Petraeus.


Reid is typical of the antiwar, anti-Bush partisans who will simply use the nearest weapon at hand to demolish the president's credibility or the legitimacy of the war. And so they will reach into Tenet's self-serving version of history and grab whatever is useful, ignoring the points mentioned above. And just as the tidbits I've provided will persuade no one to change his mind, the efforts of the antiwar crowd will be fruitless as well.


There is more to the cliche that history is written by the victors than an insight into historiography. If Democrats win the fight over withdrawal, the story of the Iraq war will come to an end, and their view of the war as a monumental blunder will become the winning interpretation because that prophecy will prove self-fulfilling. If — and it is a mighty big if — Bush and Petraeus can turn Iraq around, the decision to invade Iraq will be vindicated. At which point Tenet — the consummate Beltway survivor — will likely offer a new memoir claiming he was right all along, just for different reasons.

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