HARPER'S WEEKLY REVIEW

[Kire]

WEEKLY REVIEW

At least 167 Baghdad residents were killed in 14 separate
bombings, with 570 wounded. The next day 40 people were
killed with car bombs and guns. Twenty-one more were
killed the next day, 52 more the day after that, and 7 the
day after that. At least 30 more people were killed the
following day. Senator Robert Byrd called on the Bush
Administration to withdraw from Iraq. "We cannot continue
to commit billions in Iraq," he said, "when our own people
are so much in need." It was reported that $1 billion had
been stolen from Iraq's defense ministry, and $500 to $600
million had been stolen from the electricity, transport,
interior, and other ministries. Seventy-two percent of
African Americans polled said that George W. Bush does not
care about them, and Texas executed Frances Newton. At
least 128 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay were on hunger
strike; 18 of them had been hospitalized and were being
force-fed. "We're going to take care of everyone," said a
prison spokesman. Chicago was considering a proposal to
ban foie gras. "Our culture," explained an alderman, "does
not condone the torture of innocent and defenseless
creatures." Chuck E. Cheese restaurants were showing
Defense Department footage. "We support what our troops
are doing over there," said a Chuck E. Cheese
representative. "Helping kids." Massachusetts Governor
Mitt Romney suggested wiretapping mosques. Newly
declassified portions of the 9/11 Commission Report
revealed that the FAA had warned in 1998 that Al Qaeda
operatives could "seek to hijack a commercial jet and slam
it into a U.S. landmark," although the FAA thought this
was "unlikely." Afghanistan held its first parliamentary
elections in over three decades; about 6 million people
went to the polls to elect 249 people to the Wolesi
Jirga. The Lord's Resistance Army of Uganda crossed the
White Nile River into southern Sudan and attacked the city
of Juba; North Korea announced that it would halt its
nuclear programs in exchange for oil, energy aid, and
diplomatic recognition; and Delta and Northwest both filed
for bankruptcy.

A summit of world leaders met at the United Nations in New
York City. At the summit, President George W. Bush was
photographed writing a note to Condoleezza Rice. "I think
I MAY NEED A BATHroom break?" read the note. The
U.S.-funded National Endowment for Democracy gave $100,000
to Sumate, a Venezuelan group that opposes President Hugo
Chavez. "If the imperialist government of the White House
dares to invade Venezuela," said Chavez during an
interview, "the war of a hundred years will be unleashed
in South America." Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf
was under criticism for saying that rape victimhood was "a
money-making concern"; "A lot of people," he explained,
"say if you want to go abroad and get a visa for Canada or
citizenship and be a millionaire, get yourself raped."
Musharraf also shook hands with Ariel Sharon. Supreme
Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. was questioned by
members of the Senate and managed to avoid direct answers
to many of the questions posed to him. He did reveal,
however, that "Dr. Zhivago" and "North by Northwest" were
his favorite films. Antiabortion groups felt that Roberts
was doing just fine. A federal judge in San Francisco
ruled that requiring students to recite the Pledge of
Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional.
"Undoubtedly," read the court's decision, "the pledge
contains a religious phrase." The Dutch government
announced that it would track every citizen from birth in
an electronic database. Eighty-seven journalists were
arrested for protesting against Nepalese restrictions on
the media, and the Supreme Court of Nepal ruled that it
was "evil" to force menstruating women to live in cow
sheds.

The Vatican was investigating all 229 Roman Catholic
seminaries in the United States for evidence of
homosexuality, and Pope Benedict XVI spoke to an
exorcists' convention, encouraging the audience to "carry
on their important work." The confirmed death toll from
Hurricane Katrina rose to 883, with 663 of those in
Louisiana. About $9.8 billion had been spent so far on the
relief effort, and it was estimated that up to $200
billion remained to be spent. President Bush promised to
rebuild the communities that had been destroyed by the
hurricane. "To the extent that the federal government
didn't fully do its job right," he said, "I take
responsibility." A poll showed that only 35 percent of
Americans approved of the President's handling of the
Katrina crisis. Karl Rove was named to head the relief
effort in New Orleans. Many uninsured evacuees from New
Orleans were receiving medical care for the first time in
years. A 73-year-old New Orleans woman was being held on
$50,000 bail for allegedly looting sausages. In Spokane,
Washington, a man was in trouble for breaking into another
man's house and smearing the first man's naked, sleeping
body with chocolate frosting, then opening a dog pen in
the hope that a dog would eat the frosting. A broken light
bulb at a school gym in Tennessee caused severe sunburns
and swollen eyes in 18 people. In Alaska a 20-foot-long
treadmill was installed at a zoo to help an elephant named
Maggie lose a few hundred pounds, and two plague-infected
mice were missing in New Jersey. Judith Miller was still
in jail.

-- Paul Ford

Permanent URL for this column:
http://harpers.org/WeeklyReview2005-09-20.html

General URL for the latest Weekly Review:
http://www.harpers.org/MostRecentWR.html

Copyright 2005 Harper's Magazine Foundation

[Democrats_win]

1. Truth is strange.