The wrong idea | 5 years ago | November 20, 2001 | Seth Gitell called out Colin Powell on his diplomatic missteps.
“The United States finally has the terrorists on the run. What better time to shift the focus of the world’s attention from Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and Afghanistan? Secretary of State Colin Powell did just that when he delivered his long-awaited speech on Middle East policy at the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky, yesterday. It represented a triumph of moral equivalence — something at which State Department officials are skilled.
“In his speech, Powell was most stern when criticizing Israel’s presence in the Occupied Territories of the West Bank and Gaza. ‘The occupation must end,’ he thundered. ‘Israeli settlement activity has severely undermined Palestinian trust and hope. It preempts and prejudges the outcome of negotiations, and in doing so, cripples chances for real peace and security.’ In short, Powell’s equation was both simple and fatuous: Palestinian terrorism equals Israeli settlement activity. By equating the two, Powell is setting the stage for more terrorism, not less. . . .
“Powell’s speech raises a final question. What is it about the State Department, ensconced in its headquarters in Foggy Bottom, that makes these bureaucrats fail to see the world in clear terms? Sometimes it seems as though State Department bureaucrats are still angry that President Harry Truman went ahead and recognized Israel over their objections. That was back in 1948. If we’ve learned anything since then, it’s that the State Department is more often than not wrong about issues of a serious nature. Most recent examples? Don’t ally with the Northern Alliance. Don’t enter Kabul.”
Lab rats | 10 years ago | November 22, 1996 | Tim Sandler questioned Gillette’s claim that it hadn’t harmed animals during product testing.
“It was an occasion that Boston-based Gillette Company hailed as a milestone. The behemoth company — locked in a long-standing battle with activists over its practice of testing products on animals — boasted earlier this month that during fiscal year 1996, no animals were sacrificed for research and safety testing of its cosmetics products.
“Rodents, the company claimed, were the only animals used for testing — and those were used only for prescription-drug research, not for products catering to consumer vanity. No rabbits, the company emphasized, were used for any purpose.
“Gillette has been particularly sensitive about its testing on rabbits ever since a former Gillette lab technician went public with horrendous tales — and actual film — of rabbits with their skin peeled and blistered by the ingredients in dandruff shampoo. It was a public-relations nightmare that continues to haunt the company.
“But there are two little problems with Gillette’s latest declaration.
“First, the company has made no promise to give up testing on rabbits. It merely contends that they’re not being used for lab testing now. Second, Gillette has never manufactured ‘prescription drugs.’ So what are those rodents being used for?”
Young blood | 15 years ago | November 22, 1991 | Enzo DiMatteo revealed a shocking statistic concerning juvenile offenders in this country.
“Except for Iraq and Iran, more juvenile offenders have been executed in the United States than in any other country, says human-rights watchdog Amnesty International.
“ ‘It’s quite alarming that American society is right up there with Iraq and Iran,’ countries better known for their harsh treatment of criminal offenders, says Amnesty Canada spokesperson Jack Tackaberry.
“According to Amnesty, only six countries besides the United States — Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Barbados — have executed people under the age of 18 for criminal offenses over the last decade.
“Of the 36 American states with the death penalty, 24 allow the execution of juveniles.
“In one recent case in Louisiana, a juvenile offender sent to the electric chair for the killing of a police officer was assessed as borderline mentally retarded and schizophrenic.
“The execution was the ninth of a juvenile offender in the Southern state in this century. All were black, all were convicted of the murder of white victims, and all were sentenced to death by all-white juries.
“ ‘We don’t make the laws, we simply enforce them,’ says Steve Watsky, press secretary for Louisiana’s attorney general, William Guste.”
Show stopper | 20 years ago | November 25, 1986 | Francis Davis recalled the time Sonny Rollins collapsed during a performance.
“Lucille Rollins, who has been married to Sonny Rollins for over 20 years and managed him for the last 11, says she knew something was wrong when, from her post backstage, she heard the rhythm section slam to a halt following a curious pause in her husband’s solo on Charlie Parker’s ‘Big Foot,’ the third number of the evening. Sonny Rollins had landed on his back, his head about three inches from Tommy Campbell’s bass drum. ‘I whispered, “Get up, man,” thinking he was spoofing, before realizing that he was out cold,’ Campbell remembers. ‘I looked over at Wynton, who was shaking uncontrollably. We were all so petrified it was easier to go on playing for a few seconds than it was to stop.’
