one. . . . We could drenchrnthe c i t i e s of the Ruhr andrnmany other c i t i e s in Germanyrni n such a way t h a t most ofrnthe population would be r e ­quiringrnconstant medical attrne n t i o n . ” . . . In a c h i l l ­ingrnpassage [as i f the r e s trna r e n ‘ t ] , Churchill continued:rn”. . . if we do i t , letrnus to i t 100 per cent. Inrnthe meanwhile, I want thernmatter studied in cold bloodrnby sensible people and notrnby that p a r t i c u l a r set ofrnpsalm-singing uniformed defrne a t i s t s which one runsrnacross now here and t h e r e . “rn. . . But by then the m i l i ­trna r y chiefs had decidedrnenough was enough. . . .rnChurchill succimibed, but notrnwithout sending Ismay andrnthe chiefs of staff a b i t t e rrnmemo on J u l y 29, 1944. “I amrnnot at a l l convinced by t h i srnnegative r e p o r t , ” he said.rn”But c l e a r l y I cannot makernhead against the parsons andrnthe warriors at the samerntime. The matter should bernbrought up again when thingsrnget worse.”rnChurchill, at least, was no hypocrite,rnand he opposed the high-minded farce ofrnthe Nuremberg trials. Ideologues likernLenin, Pol Pot, and Janet Reno, on thernother hand, are very good at singingrnpsalms on human rights while justifyingrnmass-slaughter Here is the attorney general’srnopinion of the rest of us, as expressedrnin an unjustly forgotten interviewrn{60 Minutes, June 26,1994):rnA c u l t i s t i s one who has arnstrong b e l i e f in the Biblernand the Second Coming ofrnChrist; who frequently attendsrnBible s t u d i e s ; who hasrna high level of financialrngiving to a Christian cause;rnwho home schools for t h e i rrnchildren; who has accumulatedrnsurvival foods and has arnstrong b e l i e f in the SecondrnAmendment; and who d i s t r u s t srnbig government. Any ofrnthese may qualify a personrnas a c u l t i s t but c e r t a i n lyrnmore than one of these wouldrncause us t o look at t h i srnperson as a t h r e a t , and hisrnfamily as being in a r i s krns i t u a t i o n that q u a l i f i e d forrngovernment interference.rnThat Reno is a friend of both HillaryrnClinton and Madeleine Albright is unremarkablernand befitting. “Most friendships,rnSir”—as Dr. Johnson reminded hisrnyoung friend Boswell—”are merernleagues in vice, or conspiracies in folly.”rnIn politics, they are invariably both. Thatrnthey also tend to end stickily for one orrnboth parties—as evidenced by the FUhrerrnand the Duce, or Che and Fidel—ought tornbe remembered by our polyglot secretaryrnof state and her foreign associates. OnrnNovember 3, the German TV networkrnZDF reported from New York on a meetingrnbetween Albright and Joschka Fischer,rnthe leader of Germany’s Greens andrnthe junior coalition partner in GerhardrnSchroder’s government. In no time at all,rnaccording to ZDF, Albright and Fischerrnwere addressing each other with the informalrn”DM.”rnWhile it is not surprising that these twornshould converse in a language which neitherrnof them regards as foreign—and notrnin Enghsh, which they both had to learnrnfrom scratch—it remains to be seenrnwhether this level of instant intimacy willrnprompt Fischer to nominate Albright asrnthe next Bundesprdsident(in). This mayrnprove a more enticing prospect to Albrightrnthan Vaclav Havel’s offer of thernpresidential suite at the Hradcany. As hasrnbeen pointed out in these pages, the Czechrnarmy is a less impressive toy than the onernAlbright is used to playing with—^but thernBundeswehr just might do.rnIn the meantime, Mrs. Albright’s visionrnof a New European Order based onrnhuman rights may be on a collision coursernwith Islamic law. At a U.N. meeting onrnIslam’s perception of human rights, heldrnon the 50th anniversary of the UniversalrnDeclaration on Human Rights, a U.N.rnspokesman optimistically suggested thatrnIslam had made “many positive contributionsrn. . . many Islamic traditions . . . enrichedrnhuman rights.” As the BBC reportedrn(November 9):rnThe Organisation of the I s ­lamicrnConference has welcomedrnthe [U.N.] i n i t i a t i v e .rn. . . Diplomats from Islamicrncountries say t h a t a f t e r thernf a l l of the Berlin Wall, thernUN began t o r e d i r e c t i t s energiesrnfrom the fightrnagainst communism t o thernfight against Islam. Theyrnsay t h e i r legal systems,rnbased on Sharia law, are toornoften seen as incompatiblernwith UN human r i g h t s conventrni o n s , based on Judeo-Christrni a n values. But, they say,rnthe universal declaration ofrnhuman r i g h t s should encompassrna l l values, includingrnIslamic ones.rnRichard Holbrooke—that fearlessrnchampion of Islamic rights—would norndoubt endorse the initiative. Holbrooke isrnsaid to be sponsoring an “Albanians withrnDisabilities Act” after his friend Gica, arnKosovo Liberation Army guerrilla and arnsheriff of Junik (a KLA bastion), wasrnwounded following one of Holbrooke’srnvisits to Kosovo last year. As Reuters reportedrnon November 3:rnI t seems the sheriff, eagerrnto e s t a b l i s h h i s authorityrni n an a l t e r c a t i o n with a motrno r i s t , fired a burst fromrnh i s machine gun i n t o thernground. He was l a s t seenrnlittping from the scene,rnt r a i l i n g blood from h i srnshoe, having shot himself inrnthe foot.rnMeanwhile, closer to home, the U.S.rnNavy is doing its best to keep up withrnAmerican troops in the Balkans. An articlernin the Washington Times (Novemberrn7) painted a vivid picture of the new, ecumenicalrnNavy:rnThe Norfolk Naval Base i srnhome t o the U.S. m i l i t a r y ‘ srnf i r s t mosque. The Masjid alrnD’Wah, opened a year ago, isrna small space in a buildingrnt h a t also houses a synagoguernand two chapels. For thernNavy’s Muslims, i t ‘ s arnrecognition of Islam’s growingrnpresence in the m i l i t a r yrnand an affirmation that theyrncan f u l f i l l duties to bothrnGod and country. “Peoplernare very, very proud of t h i srnroom, ” s a i d Lt. Malak IbnrnNoel, the mosque’s imam, orrnr e l i g i o u s leader, and thernf i r s t Muslim chaplain inrnNavy h i s t o r y .rnFEBRUARY 1999/25rnrnrn