48 Comments

1. gumshoe:

wow.

what tragic news.

just got done this evening reading a recent article by him about electric power in Basra

over at NRO.

August 02, 2005, 8:23 a.m.

On Again, Off Again

A power problem in Basra.

By Steven Vincent

NROnline

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/vincent200508020823.asp

eprhaps he offended some of the thinner skinned Iraqis with some of his commentary

and quotes from a local electrical-grid manager who declined to be ID’d:

“The south has its particular problems, he continued, among them the increased salinization of the Shatt-al-Arab due to Saddam’s wars and disastrous environmental policies (salty water does a poorer job of cooling generators and attracts barnacles from the Gulf, which obstruct water conduits). Meanwhile, “religious parties place incompetent people in high positions. To get a job here, you used to need experience. Now it depends on your affiliation with the turbans.”

-gumshoe

Aug 2, 2005 - 11:41 pm 2. chuck:

Arrgh.

I am so sorry to hear this. Good reporters in the field are so hard to come by. His courage and observations will be missed. My condolences to his family and relations.

Aug 3, 2005 - 12:00 am 3. sport:

This is a tragic loss of a great reporter–so unlike the empty suits that fill most of our mass media. He went out into the field at great risk to himself to learn and to tell the true story of Iraq in the aftermath of 9/11. His book, In The Red Zone — A Journey into the Soul of Iraq, is a must read for anyone who really wants to know what’s going on over there and about the wider war between the Islamic extremism and Western Civilization.

Here were his thoughts on that; they deserve to be remembered now:

“But here, as I’ve come to see it, is the crux of the problem. In times past, Westerners could indulge in the exotic Muslim rejection of modernity as an escape from the stresses of our own industrialized society. But no longer. On 9-11, the despair and self-loathing at the center of the Muslim world was unleashed on America. On that day, tribal Islam became our problem, too. And, being our problem, it demands our solution: democracy. Democracy to protect civilization from terrorism, democracy to break the bonds of tribal Islam that enslave the will, imagination, and energies of millions of Muslims. Given the malignant state of the Islamic world today, this appears to me an overwhelming necessity. As necessary in this moment of time as the freeing of America’s slaves was in the mid-nineteenth century.” (p.235)

Aug 3, 2005 - 1:31 am 4. FutureTense:

A horrible, horrible tragedy.

A general media note: I think that we have a big problem with terrorists suppressing criticism of Islamofascism. First, the fatwa against Salman Rushie. Then: The beheading of Daniel Pearl. The stabbing of Theo Van Gogh. And now, Steven Vincent. (For does anybody doubt that he was killed due to his article in the NYT?) If anything has a “chilling effect” on free speech, it’s cold-blooded murder, as anybody who’s lived in a totalitarian society will tell you.

And yet the media have assiduously ignored this very real threat to free speech, while instead they spill oceans of ink on Karl Rove’s possible “outing” of a dilettantish Langley desk jockey?

Aside from the usual political and cultural biases that guide this misplaced focus, I think another, more primal motive lies at the bottom: Fear.

As one who works in Hollywood, I see firsthand that the studios are deathly (no pun intended) afraid of Islamist terrorism. Just drive into any studio lot post-9/11 and you’ll see too. They literally scan the bottom of visitor’s cars with a mirror on a pole and peer inside your trunk. Security is nearly as tight as at the airport — in some cases probably tighter. (Of course, the irony in all this is the cynical belief of Hollywood types aired at all the cocktail and dinner parties that the whole terrorism threat is drummed up and trumped up by Bush. Just yell “Bang!” after such a diatribe and you’ve never seen NBA stars jump so high.)

At this point after Pearl Harbor, Hollywood had made literally hundreds of movies and shorts about the war effort and the nature of the enemy. How many does Hollywood have to show this go-around? Absolutely bupkis. (Perhaps we ought to be grateful, as any films about the war on terror are bound to make America out to be the “bad guy” and the terrorists just poor misunderstood antiheroes.)

Leaving all the politics aside, I think the studios are downright afraid to criticize the Islamists. Deep down, they fear they might wind up like Theo Van Gogh or Steven Vincent. We cannot allow this campaign of intimidation against our artists and journalists to continue. We need more brave men and women like Van Gogh and Vincent. (Hey, Vincent and Van Gogh. What a coincidence….)

What better way for the NYT to honor Vincent’s legacy than by printing more of his past articles. And even more, by shining a spotlight on other such killings, like the Van Gogh murder which it ignored to such a degree. By connecting the dots.

The worst thing the NYT could do is to ignore this one too, especially as it came so soon after they printed one of his pieces. Or to bury it on page A32, which is the same thing. This is bigger than Augusta. Even bigger than Karl Rove. Now is an opportunity for the NYT to make up for some of their past grievous blind spots (Ukrainian famine, the holocaust, etc.). Don’t let critical voices be silenced by the Islamofascists.

Aug 3, 2005 - 2:29 am 5. goldsmith:

This poor man hasn’t even been murdered 24 hours and already his weblog comments are filling up with “War Chimp” crap. Honestly, sometimes I just want to fall to my knees and weep. There exist a huge number of people for whom no amount of blood, no amount of plain-sight evil in action, will ever move them past themselves. I pray that this brave man’s family finds comfort in his memory, and I also pray that everyone who perpetrated this perish from this earth. And soon. I wonder how many more people will have to be shot, blown up, beheaded, hung, kidnapped, before the scales will fall from so many people’s eyes and they will once again see clearly what we are fighting and why, and instead of making excuses for evil, seek to defeat it.

Aug 3, 2005 - 2:36 am 6. Swopa:

I wonder how many more people will have to be shot, blown up, beheaded, hung, kidnapped, before the scales will fall from so many people’s eyes and they will once again see clearly what we are fighting and why, and instead of making excuses for evil, seek to defeat it.

Good question. The problem is, the people who boasted about their ability to “see clearly what we are fighting” and their determination to defeat it are now the ones making the excuses.

The war they supported, and elections they proclaimed as a purple-fingered tsunami of freedom, put the folks who just murdered Steven Vincent in charge of Basra.

That’s right — instead of defeating radical Islamists, they empowered them. But rather than admit that, they shut their eyes and pretended that southern Iraq was a thriving young democracy, making excuses for the corruption and Islamicization that Vincent wrote about.

So, now that exposing those flaws has gotten Vincent killed, will the war’s supporters open their eyes and stop making excuses? You tell me.

Aug 3, 2005 - 3:03 am 7. Ed Poinsett:

Fer Chrissake swopa, at least read the above post by Sport. It’s all Bush’s fault won’t get it in solving this problem.

Aug 3, 2005 - 3:13 am 8. Terrye:

Swopa:

Believe it or not Bush did not kill the man. Now the guy who would be running the place if you had your way was famous for this kind of thing so what are you being so self righteous about?

This man was killed by the same kind of people that killed Daniel Pearl. They are evil people who terrorize other people who speak out against them.

If [you] Swopa can not understand that I wish you could have the good grace to refrain form being an a**hole long enough to show respect for the dead.

Aug 3, 2005 - 4:07 am 9. ganzo azul:

We should all do something.

1) His translator, a brave and brilliant young woman was seriously injured. Perhaps there is a contact in Basra who could let us know what we can do provide assistance to her.

2) Can we get some of his work, his blog entries and articles, translated and published in Iraq? Can we purchase air time on an Iraqi radio and have his work read to the citizens of Basra? (Every so often I would stumble on Alistair Cook’s Letter From America. Can’t we create in Arabic Stephen Vincent’s Letter From Iraq.)

Aug 3, 2005 - 4:16 am 10. Robert Crawford:

Odd, isn’t it, that with the number of journalists killed — on purpose — by terrorists, journalists aren’t screaming from the rooftops about it?

Aug 3, 2005 - 4:18 am 11. Kat-Missouri/USA:

I like Ganzo’s idea. There has to be a way to contact this woman and her family to help out. Maybe we should find out who is treating her? Iraqi hospitals are notoriously bad and I wouldn’t put it past anyone to do her harm so she won’t speak, if she is ever able so it seems like she should be in a secured area and a decent American medical unit.

Aug 3, 2005 - 4:38 am 12. ambisinistral:

What can be done?

One of my first posts on this board mentioned how people came down from Washington DC to watch the first battle of Manassas with picnic lunches. One of our problems today is many of our fellow citizens are still sitting on the hillside eating fried chicken and figuring we can finese our way out of this disaster. The Swopa’s of the world mutter if only the calvary had moved faster on the right flank we would all be home by Christmas.

Talking to people it becomes clear that many of them do not the scope and the range of the problem. Most know nothing about the same problem in the Stans, the southern Phililipnes, Indonesia, Thailand, Kashmire, sub-Sahara Africa, even the slums of Europe. They know nothing about the systematic murder of terachers and policemen, the acid thrown in the faces of uppity girls, ritual rapes and mutilations, the ceaseless dialog of blood and venom.

Those dots have never been connected, and so many of them see it as a handful of criminals running around under the radar comitting ghastly crimes. Bush’s true failure in the WOT has never been the electric grid in Basra, if has been a failure to define and articulate the scope of the struggle. His early talk of a long battle gave way much too early to sunshine blown up people’s posteriors. Religion of Peace indeed.

What can be done? Probably nothing, I’m afraid we’ll need our own Shiloh for the seriousness of this matter to sink in. All we can do in the mean time is one person at time, in one conversation after another, to try to convince people this is not a police matter, not a string of horrendous crimes, that this is a worldwide battle for our way of life and our values.

Aug 3, 2005 - 5:05 am 13. mrp:

Ms. Lopez has linked Mr. Vincent’s NRO work here.

A brave man. May he rest in peace.

Aug 3, 2005 - 6:04 am 14. legion:

Another brave voice silenced for speaking the truth. His courage was amazing. This story needs to be told loud and long, to every schoolchild and adolescent in the western world.

“This is the corrupt and deadly world we face. This is primitive tribalism, primitive Islam. This world may well kill you if you call it by its true name. But if you don’t call it by its true name, you are complicit in that world’s lies, and its murders. That is the choice you must make. Decide what kind of person you are.”

Aug 3, 2005 - 6:04 am 15. Baron Bodissey:

Suggestion: we can write. Mr. Vincent said that words matter, and ours do, too, even though we are safe (most of us), blogging in our pajamas in our cozy homes.

This war is mostly a war within the West, for the soul of the West, and it is fought with words as well as the blood of our soldiers (and journalists, and innocent bystanders).

Dymphna’s contribution: Words Matter.

Aug 3, 2005 - 6:31 am 16. Rick Ballard:

Wretchard has an excellent piece up on this.

As to “We should do something” perhaps letter of support accompanying more tangible evidence of support to others, such as Michael Yon is in order. The battle is far from over and supporting other compatriots of Mr. Vincent seems a decent thing to do.

Mr. Vincent was a brave man who died while acting on his beliefs. He was fighting for all of us and is owed a gesture of our respect. If a memorial fund is established I hope that we are informed of it.

Aug 3, 2005 - 6:41 am 17. Syl:

My condolences to his family and his fiancee. And thank you, Steven, for your courage.

Another murder by abjectly intolerant pigs. I’ve deleted 5 versions of this message already. I’m just too angry.

Aug 3, 2005 - 7:14 am 18. Patrick Tyson:

Words fail. Like Syl, my condolences to his family and fiance.

Aug 3, 2005 - 7:36 am 19. PJ:

Terrible, terrible. My condolences to the family.

When will the Brits (and the US) learn that ’softly, softly’ is just another name for weakness? Sadr should have been in jail long ago; as soon as the coalition leaves, he will mount a rebellion, if he hasn’t solidified his control over the south already.

Fight the war to win. Don’t make a mockery of bravery and sacrifice such as this.

Aug 3, 2005 - 8:03 am 20. Baron Bodissey:

Samples from the comments on Vincent’s last blog post (asterisks inserted where appropriate):

ok, i read his articles….he deserved to be shot for writing boring crap like that.

he the f*ck is he to go and criticise other countries…he should have sticked with his own country, too many problems there.

he wanted to ride the wave of succes, well he got his brains shot out, too bad.

another wasted life for an illegal war based on lies…wonder when the sheep will wake up?

****

before you invaded it, the iraqis were living in moderate wealth, there was NO ISLAMIC RADICALISM….usa does their clusterbombing based on lies and boomm….iraq has become a school for islamic terrorists……usa caused this sh*t, so lets attack the cause, ok~?

Aug 3, 2005 - 8:11 am 21. Gary Farber:

As I wrote here, a fund for Nouriya Itais, Vincent’s fiancee/translator, might be in order.

I reserve the words “tragedy” and “tragic” for events of natural causes, myself; vicious murders are in another category. But that’s just my usage.

Aug 3, 2005 - 9:05 am 22. Gary Farber:

After reading some comments above:

It might be respectful if everyone, no matter your views, laid off posting comments about politics in the context of threads about a man’s death, for just a day or so.

Just a thought. Don’t let me interfere with grinding your ax, whatever your view, since politics is obviously all that matters, and your preference for your own funeral, or that of your loved ones, is for people to yell about politics at it at each other.

Classy.

Aug 3, 2005 - 9:09 am 23. Dilys:

Truly a decent guy. After I linked to him on my little weblog, he put me on his blogroll, visited regularly, and answered my e-mails.

May those close to him be comforted for knowing him in his too-short life. And those whose beliefs support it, pray for his soul.

A decent fellow. Courage, candor, and charm.

Aug 3, 2005 - 9:37 am 24. ambisinistral:

Gary Farber,

Oh, spare us your pieties. Of course his death was a tragedy. How many other deaths that day were there because of this turmoil — tens, hundreds, thousands? Should we wear perpetual sack cloth and forever speak in whispers out of respect for the ever multiplying dead?

I may vehemently disagree with somebody with a much different view than mine, but I will grant that they, like me, are struggling with how to best minimize the number of future deaths in this conflict. As such, that debate, and not the respectful humming of funeral dirges, is of utmost importance.

Aug 3, 2005 - 10:21 am 25. Catherine:

I’m having an only the good die young moment.

Rest in peace, Steven Vincent.

Aug 3, 2005 - 10:31 am 26. Baron Bodissey:

Mr. Farber reminds me of an old R. Crumb comic strip, in which Schuman the Human says (approximately):

“Hey, everybody, I just had an idea — Let’s all stop playing ego games right now!”

[Pause panel]

“There! Now wasn’t that a great idea?

“…Oops.”

Aug 3, 2005 - 10:31 am 27. Kyda Sylvester:

I have spent the morning reading and re-reading much of Steven’s work. I feel the same sense of loss as when Michael Kelly died, but today there is the added element of anger bordering on rage which I will refrain from expressing here.

On his return to Basra in June, Steven wrote:

Beneath the surface, though, this is not the easy-going municipality of 1.5 million people I recall. For one thing, I can no longer wander the streets, take a cab, or dine in restaurants for fear of being spotted as a foreigner: Kidnapping, by criminal gangs or terrorists, remains a lucrative business. Instead, for safety’s sake, I’m tied to my hotel, dependent on expensive drivers, unable to go anywhere without Iraqi escort. “You really shouldn’t be here at all,” a British-embassy official warned me.

But there he was and there he stayed. Steven Vincent was a fine writer and a man of rare courage and integrity. He will be sorely missed. My condolences to his family and friends. RIP, Steven, you’ve earned it.

“Liberation brought us freedom of the press,” an Iraqi journalist once told me. “And as long as you don’t probe into matters like civic corruption, organized crime, or the religious parties, you’re free not to be killed.”

Aug 3, 2005 - 10:31 am 28. Kyda Sylvester:

I have spent the morning reading and re-reading much of Steven’s work. I feel the same sense of loss as when Michael Kelly died, but today there is the added element of anger bordering on rage which I will refrain from expressing here.

On his return to Basra in June, Steven wrote:

Beneath the surface, though, this is not the easy-going municipality of 1.5 million people I recall. For one thing, I can no longer wander the streets, take a cab, or dine in restaurants for fear of being spotted as a foreigner: Kidnapping, by criminal gangs or terrorists, remains a lucrative business. Instead, for safety’s sake, I’m tied to my hotel, dependent on expensive drivers, unable to go anywhere without Iraqi escort. “You really shouldn’t be here at all,” a British-embassy official warned me.

But there he was and there he stayed. Steven Vincent was a fine writer and a man of rare courage and integrity. He will be sorely missed. My condolences to his family and friends. RIP, Steven, you’ve earned it.

“Liberation brought us freedom of the press,” an Iraqi journalist once told me. “And as long as you don’t probe into matters like civic corruption, organized crime, or the religious parties, you’re free not to be killed.”

Aug 3, 2005 - 10:35 am 29. Steven Mitchell:

Michael Kelly sprang into my mind as well. RIP.

Aug 3, 2005 - 11:03 am 30. ricpic:

On the strictly personal level: I don’t even have the courage to set foot in the Middle East…anywhere.

Stephen Vincent’s courage is beyond my ken. And yet he had it.

A rare breed.

Aug 3, 2005 - 11:04 am 31. Clive Davis:

When Pajamas is up and running, could there be a section dedicated to Steven and his work? Or maybe a memorial along the lines of the Michael Kelly Award? (www.kellyaward.com)

Aug 3, 2005 - 11:32 am 32. gumshoe:

“I reserve the words “tragedy” and “tragic” for events of natural causes,myself;

vicious murders are in another category.

But that’s just my usage.”

- Gary F.

imo,it’s tragic because we’ve all lost the voice of a reporter with the courage to step outside of the Green Zone.

Iraqis and Americans (and Brits)

will suffer as a result:

“religious parties place incompetent people in high positions.

To get a job here, you used to need experience. Now it depends on your affiliation with the turbans.”

who else in Basra was/is writing

reporting like this??

rest in peace,Mr Vincent.

and thank you.

Aug 3, 2005 - 11:53 am 33. Yehudit:

“As I wrote here, a fund for Nouriya Itais, Vincent’s fiancee/translator, might be in order.”

That is a good suggestion. A fund for his wife too. (Um, I don’t think his translator was his fiancee, he was already married. Unless he got divorced while in Iraq.)

Aug 3, 2005 - 11:58 am 34. Rick Ballard:

Clive,

I think that’s a great idea concerning establishing an award. It appears that the Kelly Award is supported by Atlantic Media – publishers of the Atlanctic Monthly, who were Kelly’s employers, if I’m not mistaken.

I feel rather strange asking PM to consider backing a memorial and/or award since they aren’t yet in business but Roger did ask for suggestions. I wonder if enough dough could be raised to make a charitable foundation possible?

Aug 3, 2005 - 12:07 pm 35. Jamie Irons:

Kyda

“Liberation brought us freedom of the press,” an Iraqi journalist once told me. “And as long as you don’t probe into matters like civic corruption, organized crime, or the religious parties, you’re free not to be killed.”

Kyda, thanks for your thoughts above. This short quote you called to our attention brings to mind my recurring question: is what we are trying to do in Iraq (which I fully support) even possible?

Or does the combination of corruption, tribalism, and religious intolerance — combined with a passivity in the better people nurtured by thirty years of a brutal dictatorship — render our efforts hopeless?

Jamaie Irons

Aug 3, 2005 - 12:21 pm 36. Gary Farber:

“As such, that debate, and not the respectful humming of funeral dirges, is of utmost importance.”

It could wait a day, and/or for another thread.

But, by all means, show your respect and honor the deceased as you feel appropriate.

Bring a megaphone to the memorial, if you like. Don’t talk about Steven Vincent. Talk about the importance of your political views. Indulge yourself over Steven Vincent.

It’s one way to go. And now I go.

Aug 3, 2005 - 12:29 pm 37. Bostonian:

Gary F.,

This is a blog, not an actual memorial service.

Take a pill already.

Aug 3, 2005 - 12:32 pm 38. Yehudit:

I wrote a piece placing Vincent’s murder in a larger context.

Aug 3, 2005 - 1:01 pm 39. Kyda Sylvester:

My apologies for the multiple posts–I have no idea what happened there.

KLo at NRO reports that Steven’s family has suggested donations to Spirit of America for those who wish to “do something”. It’s a fine idea and a fine organization which I have supported in the past. I sent an email to Jim Hake suggesting that he set something up with Steven’s name attached.

Jamie, I think we all realized (or should have realized anyhow) from the beginning that Iraq was a crap shoot. Liberation could create instability that could lead to civil war. Democracy could lead to theocracy. And so forth. My money is still on the Iraqi people, but it won’t be easy in the short haul, or long, and it won’t be pretty. Birth is a messy, painful and often chaotic process. Why should the birth of a nation be less so? Our own history demonstrates as much. At the time, most of us would have preferred dispatching al-Sadr and his cohorts to Paradise over the concilatory approach taken instead which brought him into the mainstream and lead to the current state of affairs in Basra. On the other hand, such action might have created an even worse situation–we have no way of knowing. We just have to keep keepin’ on and do the best we can.

Aug 3, 2005 - 1:13 pm 40. Katherine:

Terrible loss. Horrible tragedy. What a courage. And what a price.

Jamie,

The Iraqis were under dictatorship for 30 years. That was on top of traditional tribalism of that part of the world. It is not easy to shake up this kind of conditioning and suddenly embrace the rule of law. Look at former communist countries. Corruption and bribery are still ways of life there (e.g. try to visit a doctor without a traditional gift – running from flowers to cash – and see what kind of care you will get there).

We take our honesty and respect for the rule of the law for granted, but it is a fruit of generations. Civilizations are not built within the frameworks of Five Year Plans.

On the other hand Kurds seem to managed to establish some form of democratic, civic society (though I do not doubt that some corruption is common there, too). So, it is not impossible, it is just incredibly hard. All we know is that humans respond well to incentives ñ so, incentivisation of an honest society should be our priority.

First, letís kill all the terrorists.

Aug 3, 2005 - 1:14 pm 41. ElMondo:

(Crickets… crickets chirping… more crickets…)

That’s the sound of Linda Foley condemning the shooting.

Aug 3, 2005 - 1:47 pm 42. Terrye:

Jamie:

I just don’t know.

I realize that it was always a long shot. No doubt that is why Saddam and people like him have been tolerated for as along as they were. Realpoliticsk was not just about taking the easy way out. To a lot of people it was the only way out because those folks over there were considered a bunch of crazed back asswards barbarians. But that oil wealth gave them a power that their own sorry culture could never have accomplished on its own.

I think this is like the wild west. My Okie grandfather used to take a 22 to the fields just in case of desperados when he was a young man. And that would have been the early 19th century. And I think of Iraq like that. No doubt that was why Saddam turned the criminals loose, just to keep the new authorities busy.

So now there is a combination of crime, terrorism, poverty, political uncertainty, tribalism and of course corruption. We put people in jail for that here, but in much of the world it seems it is the way things are done.

It is no wonder the electricity is slow in coming on if the people who are running things are a bunch of Islamic clerics who have no practical knowledge but like to control things anyway.

The truth is we are trying to drag the Muslim world into the 21st century kciking and screaming in the hopes that we don’t have to blow it up someday.

Aug 3, 2005 - 1:53 pm 43. chuck:

Katherine:

On the other hand Kurds seem to managed to establish some form of democratic, civic society

And even there the two main parties spent some time fighting with each other.

Terrye:

The truth is we are trying to drag the Muslim world into the 21st century kciking and screaming in the hopes that we don’t have to blow it up someday.

Yep. I will be happy if the Iraqis can write a constitution, abide by it, and avoid civil war. One advantage of a federal Iraq will be different strokes for different folks. If the south is too rigid and overrun with religious enforcers, people can look to Baghdad or the Kurdish areas.

I do worry what will happen when Sistani dies, though. Who else has his authority?

Aug 3, 2005 - 2:19 pm 44. Terrye:

chuck:

As long as it is not that cockroach Sadr it might not be so bad when the old boy dies. Let’s hope. But they gotta crawl before they can walk.

I was reading on Yon’s site that 10 out of 17 provinces are completely peaceful in Iraq, but when these terrorists manage to kill 21 Marines in three days or shoot a well known journo like this it seems the whole country is in flames. And I am sure that is just what they want the world to believe.

I hear AlSunna has some video of the Marines they killed on their website. So charming. Of course there is much less outrage over that than there was ABuGhraib. No human pyramids, just dead warriors.

How did they get to those guys? How many enemy did the Marines kill? I read somewhere that the terrorists gave them the chance to surrender and they said hell no. Like any Marine would hand his weapon over to one of these bozos. But I still do not understand how they got to them in the first place. I wonder if they were betrayed. And then the road side bomb. Yon said that the adopt a highway program is successful. But the road side bombs while less frequent, are more deadly.

I read that in Thailand the Islamists have killed 800 Buddhists since the first of the year and over 100,000 have fled the south. They want guns so that they can fight. I guess the Thai government can not protect them.

Buddhists in Thailand.

Hindus in Kashmir.

Muslims in Iraq.

Everyone in the UK and the US.

Jews in Israel.

Who is next? The scientologists?

Notice how they leave the Chinese alone. The Chinese deal with their radicals by killing them. I suppose they are afraid China will nuke them for real.

Aug 3, 2005 - 2:44 pm 45. FutureTense:

I’m curious to see tomorrow’s front page of the New York Times. (The tragedy occurred too late to be included in today’s edition.) Considering that the Times had just published an op-ed by Vincent on Sunday which almost certainly led to his murder, printing this story anywhere but on page 1 would be an unforgiveable slight. As the Times online article itself noted (rather dispassionately), “Mr. Vincent is the first American reporter to be attacked and killed in the current Iraq war.”

If the victim was someone more like Peter Arnett or Robert Fisk, there’d be no doubt how this story would be played. But it’s a little more problematic for the Times when a journalist with the temerity to support the war effort dies.

Vincent ought also to be celebrated as one of the few journalists willing to leave the comforts and safety of the Green Zone and do some actual reporting. I can just picture the MSM journalists in the Green Zone gulping down their poolside margaritas a little bit faster upon hearing the news.

Aug 3, 2005 - 2:57 pm 46. Katherine:

Buddhists want guns? If I had any doubts that we are in a global life-and-death struggle with Islamists, this would have to convince me.

I guess it is my warmongering nature, but canít we dispose with all that Religion of Peace nonsense? And start fighting like we really mean it? Handling Korans with gloves at Gitmo is not helping.

Aug 3, 2005 - 3:03 pm 47. FRNM:

Roger L. Simon writes “We should all do something.”

I believe one thing we can do besides making sure his family and the translator are provided for, would be to make sure someone picks up where he left off.

The blogosphere can honor him most by finding others to carry his work forward, because it is the work of freedom. It will be an important achievement to find and punish those responsible for his death; it will a much greater achievement to heed his warning of the deteriorating situation in southern Iraq and do what is necessary to alter that course.

A good start would be to encourage President Bush to award Steven Vincent the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to honor the ’soldier’ who sacrificed his life in the President’s quest to advance freedom in the Middle East. Such high profile acknowledgment of the debt we owe him would send a signal to our enemies; it would then be up to us to make sure we as a nation follow through.

Aug 3, 2005 - 8:39 pm 48. Clive Davis:

Steven’s NY Times piece on Basra has been re-printed in today’s London Times:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1072-1720197,00.html

Aug 4, 2005 - 3:34 am

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