1 August 2006 >> Apparently, Israel’s vigorous war against Hizbollah has weakened Iran’s ability to act in the region. At least that’s what some in Tehran think, according to The New York Times:

In the past, Iran believed that Israel might pause before attacking it because they would assume Hezbollah would assault the northern border. If Hezbollah emerges weaker, or restrained militarily because of domestic politics, Iran feels it may be more vulnerable.

“This was God’s gift to Israel,” said Nasser Hadian, a political science professor at Tehran University and an expert in Iranian foreign policy. “Hezbollah gave them the golden opportunity to attack.”

He said that Iran does not have the military ability at home to fight an aggressive offensive war against Israel from so far away. He said its only offensive tool would be a missile, which he said would be of limited effect and accuracy.

My first reaction is: good.

My second reaction is, an Iranian missile today might only be “of limited effect and accuracy.” But an Iranian missile in a few years, tipped with nuclear material, would be a different story. With a nuke, the missiles don’t have to be terribly accurate to have the intended effect, and that effect would most certainly not be “limited.”

1 August 2006 >> Last week in Seattle, a gunman opened fire on a crowd, shooting six people and killing one. On television news, where the rule is “if it bleeds, it leads,” mass shootings typically get massive coverage. And when there’s a motive for the shooting, you usually hear about that, too. We all remember that the Columbine shooters were picked on in school.

But some crimes don’t get quite as much coverage, and when they do, they are often scrubbed of politically incorrect details. So when Naveed Afzal Haq entered the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and started shooting, it was interesting to see how the story was covered.

Haq, a U.S.-born Muslim, left no doubt about his motives: according to witnesses, he announced, “I am a Muslim American, angry at Israel” before opening fire. Haq later told a 911 operator, “These are Jews and I’m tired of getting pushed around and our people getting pushed around by the situation in the Middle East.”

But despite his own statements, it still wasn’t quite enough evidence for the folks at the Los Angeles Times. On Sunday, two days after the incident, the paper ran a front-page teaser about the story that claimed, “Jewish Center Shooter’s Motive is a Mystery.”

Yeah, what a mystery! Better call in the psychic detectives to get to the bottom of this one.

As a result of such deliberate ignorance, the paper’s number-one online watchdog administers sufficient ridicule. Nicely done, Patterico!