by JAMES TARANTO
Tuesday, October 9, 2001 1:48 P.M. EDT

Anthrax Attack?
Federal officials now suspect foul play in the case of Bob Stevens, a 63-year-old Florida man who died over the weekend of an anthrax infection. Ernesto Blanco, a Stevens colleague at supermarket-tabloid publisher American Media, has now tested positive for anthrax infection. Stevens was photo editor of the Sun tabloid; Blanco works in the mailroom. Only 18 cases of anthrax were reported nationwide in the 20th century, the most recent in 1976 in California.

The company's offices are in Lantana, Fla., and the Associated Press notes that "Stevens lived about a mile from an airstrip where flight school owner Marian Smith said hijacker Mohamed Atta rented planes. Several other hijackers also visited a crop-dusting business in Belle Glade, 40 miles from Stevens' home in Lantana."

The Miami Herald notes that the Oct. 2 issue of the Globe, an American Media tabloid, carries a "special report" that claims Osama bin Laden's hate for America stems from his rejection by an American woman because he suffers from "underdeveloped sexual organs." Snopes.com argues that the Globe story is bogus.

London's Times quotes biological-weapons experts as saying Stevens's death was probably the result of a deliberate but "inept" release of bacteria. InstaPundit.com elaborates:

This is actually probably good news. Let me explain. First, it appears to have been sent in the mail, an idiotic method for spreading anthrax, suggesting that they didn't have a better one. Second, it appears that it was probably sent by the now-dead 19. That suggests that Al-Qaeda doesn't have a lot of resources in the States. Combining operations like that is dangerous, and ordinarily you wouldn't do it if you didn't have to--had anyone caught on to the anthrax ploy, which was a sideshow, the whole operation could have been blown. So there are only two reasons why you might combine these operations: (1) you're stupid; and (2) you don't have enough resources to do it any other way. I'm betting on (2), because while these guys are stupid in the larger sense--I guarantee, the end result of this won't be anything the Ladenites like--they aren't stupid in the tactical or operational sense.

The Weekly Standard's William Kristol speculates that the anthrax outbreak is the reason the U.S. has informed the United Nations it may take military action against states other than Afghanistan--presumably meaning Iraq.

Speaking of Iraq . . .
Newsweek reports Mohammad Atta, the likely Sept. 11 ringleader, met twice in Prague with top Iraqi intelligence officials. The first meeting, in June 2000, had been previously reported, but this is the first report of the second meeting, in April 2001. The latter meeting was with Farouk Hijazi, now Iraq's ambassador to Turkey and former deputy head of Iraqi military intelligence.

Our Friends the Pakistanis
The Pakistani newspaper Dawn reports that Islamabad has replaced the head of its Inter-Services Intelligence agency, Lt. Gen. Mahmud Ahmed, "after the FBI investigators established credible links between him and Umar Sheikh, one of the three militants released in exchange for passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999."

Whose Fault?
David Pryce-Jones, writing in National Review, is blunt:

For the past half century and more, the Muslim world has been free and independent, with every opportunity to organize as it wishes. And this is the heart of the issue: The Muslim world is a political and social disaster for all to see. With the arguable exception of Turkey, it consists of a series of despotisms, each with an absolute ruler whose ultimate justification is his strength and will. A family or a clique gathers around the ruler under the protection of the state apparatus of secret police and military repression. To the powerful, the spoils; to the weak, submission. No rights, no freedom of expression, no loyal opposition, no rule of law, no redress except through violence, conspiracy, a coup, and ultimate civil war.

Whose fault is this? The huge majority of Muslims understand that they are responsible for themselves.

Also on National Review Online, James Robbins of the Naitonal Defense University, traces bin Laden's historical grievances. In his video press release the terrorist mastermind claimed that "our nation"--that is, the Islamic world--"has undergone more than 80 years of this humiliation." Writes Robbins:

Bin Laden is talking about the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres imposed on the Turks after World War One, which detached their Arab provinces and spelled the end of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans had ruled the region for 600 years or so, and brought varying degrees of political harmony under the Sultanate and religious unity under the Caliphate. The 1920 treaty did away with the political order, and the Caliphate was banned by Kemal Ataturk in 1924. The European powers saw to the disposition of the Arab lands, the route to British India was secured from Russian expansionism, France was given an interest in Syria, and the Mideast oil supplies were safe. . . .

So the World Trade Towers had to come down because some psychopath can't come to grips with the end of World War I? Basically, yes. In bin Laden's universe, that was when everything started to go wrong.

This Ain't No Jihad
Bernard Haykel, a professor of Islamic studies at New York University, pens an op-ed for Pakistan's Dawn newspaper giving six reasons why Osama bin Laden's terrorist effort is not a jihad, or holy struggle:

1) Individuals and organizations cannot declare a jihad, only states can; 2) One cannot kill innocent women and children when conducting a jihad; 3) One cannot kill Muslims in a jihad; 4) One cannot fight a jihad against a country in which Muslims can freely practise their religion and proselytize Islam; 5) Prominent Muslim jurists around the world have condemned these attacks and their condemnation forms a juristic consensus (ijma') against Bin Laden's actions (This consensus renders his actions un-Islamic); 6) The welfare and interest of the Muslim community (maslaha) is being harmed by Bin Laden's actions and this equally makes them un-Islamic.

Syria on the Security Council
The Washington Times has an editorial on yesterday's U.N. vote electing Syria to a term on the Security Council. "Syria deserves to be in the crosshairs of the anti-terrorism campaign, not on the U.N. Security Council," the paper says:

Regarding the Golan Heights, which Syria lost to Israel in 1967, it is worth recalling what happened following last year's negotiations in Shepherdstown, W.Va., between then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and [Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk] Sharaa himself. Less than three weeks later, Mr. Sharaa delivered a speech in Syria at the Arab Writers Association meeting. He was asked whether the recent land-for-peace negotiations indicated that Syria would be granting "the Zionists a right in Palestine." Mr. Sharaa confirmed what Israel had always feared was Syria's long-term strategy. "[R]estoring Palestine in its entirety is a long-term strategic goal that cannot be achieved in one stage," Mr. Sharaa declared. "The first stage is the stage of restoring the occupied lands of 1967." He left no doubt what stage two would be.

A news article in the Washington Post reports that the Bush administration "did not lobby against Syria's candidacy and would not say whether it voted for or against Damascus." "It's a secret ballot," said James B. Cunningham, the U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations.

Some Grim Statistics
The Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reports that yesterday saw the 100th anti-Israel suicide bombing. Ha'aretz compiles the following suicide-bombing statistics:

• Of the 100 suicide bombers, 75 were killed while perpetrating 67 different missions. (In several attacks, like the one at Beit Lid in 1995, several suicide bombers participated in the same mission.) The other 25 bombers were either intercepted by security forces before carrying out their attack or were captured after their explosives failed to detonate. Seven of the 30 suicide bombers sent on missions during the past year were arrested.

• 66 belonged to Hamas, 34 were members of Islamic Jihad.

• 67 were between the ages of 17 to 23 and most of the others were also under the age of 30.

• 54 came from Gaza, 45 from the West Bank and one was an Israeli Arab. (The Israeli Arab, who carried out the attack in Nahariya last month, was also an exception in his advanced age--53.)

• 23 had elementary education; 31 were high school graduates and 46 had higher education,

• 86 were bachelors and 14 were married,

Clichés of War
National Review Online's Jonah Goldberg has a witty article demolishing some of the more nonsensical things people have said since Sept. 11, such as the notion that "if we change our way of life, 'they' will have won":

If this were true, Osama Bin Laden would have said in his taped message . . ., "And I say this to my Muslim brothers and sisters: We Won! Airports across the United States have cancelled curbside check-in! Yes, Lovers of Allah, lines at John F. Kennedy airport are twice as long, even for domestic flights! Rudolph Giuliani, mayor of New York, has declared that commuters must carpool in the Holland Tunnel on Thursdays and Fridays. Therefore I am hereby calling off the jihad. You may return to your families and villages, secure in the knowledge that the Great Satan will never allow silverware at airport Pizza Huts ever again."

The fact is that if we don't change our way of life, in at least a few significant areas, "they" will win. And "they" won't be high-fiving when Bill Maher loses his job, as Arianna Huffington has suggested. They will be celebrating victory over the corpses of more Americans.

Peaceniks for Military Action
The Middletown (N.Y.) Times Herald-Record quotes some local peace activists who can't stomach the idea of surrendering in this war. "I see the need to respond," says Dan Whitley, pastor of the Clintondale Friends Meeting House. "So far, I've been pleased with the government's cautious approach, and the military is part of that. I don't see any other way." Caralee Moor, "a longtime peace activist from the Woodstock area," adds: "Unfortunately, I think there is no alternative than to pursue military action in combination with dialogue. I support it and I don't hold Muslims or the Afghanistani people responsible--it's the Taliban and the terrorist mentality."

Banning the Pledge
The Madison, Wis., school board has banned the Pledge of Allegiance. "The 3-2 board vote came after several parents and teachers complained that the pledge, which contains the line 'one nation, under God,' is a religious oath that doesn't belong in public schools," the Wisconsin State Journal reports. A state law that took effect Sept. 1 requires schools to start the day with either the pledge or the national anthem. Madison opted for the anthem--but banned the lyrics. Only an instrumental version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" will be played in the schools. School-board president Calvin Williams calls it the "least intrusive and least offensive" way to comply with the law.

Oops
In Quetta, Pakistan, an anti-American protester's hair catches fire as he tries to ignite an American flag. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Civil War?
In the midst of an otherwise senseless op-ed piece, Robert Harris picks up an interesting detail about Osama Bin Laden: According to the journalist Robert Fisk, who interviewed him four years ago, "his understanding of foreign affairs is decidedly eccentric. At one point, he even suggested to me that individual US states might secede from the Union because of Washington's support for Israel."

Osama's Outfit
USA Today notes that in the videotape aired Sunday, Osama bin Laden was apparently wearing part of a U.S. Army uniform. "It looks like one of our field jackets," says Maj. Gabe Patricio, who is overseeing the Marine Corps' switch this year to a digitally generated camouflage pattern."I'd be shocked if it wasn't ours." The jacket may have been sold as military surplus.

Osama's Mask
The New York Post reports there's a big demand for Osama bin Laden Halloween masks, but Abracadabra costume shop owner Paul Blum says he hasn't been able to find any. Meanwhile, masks of politicians such as President Bush and Mayor Rudy Giuliani aren't selling. Diana Crone of Buycostumes.com says "people usually wear the political stuff in protest, but this year there's been a total drop." The company has dropped plans for a Gary Condit mask.

Along with Osama, "this year's big sellers are firefighters, police officers, soldiers, the Statue of Liberty and Uncle Sam. 'People can't get enough of it,' says Blum. 'And they want anything with a flag on it.' "

(Ira Stoll helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Damian Bennett, Jim Orheim, Asla Aydintasbas, David Merrill, Paul Cashman, Jerry Skurnik, Gary Rogowski, Benjamin Thompson, Mike Heuring, Kevin Hayes, Rosslyn Smith and Herb Saunders. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)