connecting*the*dots

Some of the more insightful analysis (video uploaded to YouTube on July 18th):

[…]

The next stage was Hezbollah’s abduction of two Israeli soldiers, they say on the border. Their official reason for this is that they are aiming for prisoner release. There are a few, nobody knows how many. Officially, there are three Lebanese prisoners in Israel. There’s allegedly a couple hundred people missing. Nobody knows where they are.

But the real reason, I think it’s generally agreed by analysts, is that — I’ll read from the Financial Times, which happens to be right in front of me. “The timing and scale of the attack suggest it was partly intended to reduce the pressure on Palestinians by forcing Israel to fight on two fronts simultaneously.”

David Hurst, who knows this area well, describes it, I think this morning, as a display of solidarity with a suffering people, the clinching impulse.

It’s a very, in my view, a very irresponsible act. It subjects the Lebanese people to possible — certainly to plenty of terror and possible extreme disaster.

[…]

These guys — Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty — have been walking around, free as a bird, for the past 36 days.

Whether they’re guilty or not, I’m having a hard time understanding how these Duke Lacrosse players avoided charges for rape and kidnapping for so long. They’re on a friggin’ roster with pictures, names, vital statistics, goals scored, etc. all available for victim identification.

From today’s NYTimes:

“This kid is just an honorable kid, never done anything wrong in his life,” said Kirk Osborn, a lawyer for Mr. Seligmann. “He is absolutely innocent and we intend to show that sooner rather than later.”

Oh, okay. So this is sooner?

William J. Cotter, the lawyer representing Mr. Finnerty, said this morning, “The grand jury, as you know, has indicted him. They hear one side of the story. They almost always indict. The next jury will hear the entire story, which includes our evidence. We’re confident that these young men will be found to be innocent. “We’re surprised that anyone got indicted, quite frankly.”

Hm…

The woman told the police she was blocked in a bathroom, held, hit, kicked and strangled while she was sexually assaulted for about 30 minutes. She said she had been separated from another dancer, who had also been hired to perform.

Police initially thought the accuser was intoxicated but later took her to the Duke University Hospital emergency room. She had “signs, symptoms, and injuries consistent with being raped and sexually assaulted vaginally and anally,” according to a district attorney’s affidavit.

Defense lawyers have told reporters that the second dancer at the party has contradicted the accuser. But that woman spoke with a local television station over the weekend, under conditions set by her lawyer that she could not be asked about specifics at the party, and she did not contradict the accuser.

Nice.

Seriously though, picture a bizarro version of this event involving two black football players. Or two white gas station attendants. Or two illegal immigrants.

If any of these people could’ve been fingered as easily as the Duke players, the emergency room report alone — whether it was considered airtight proof or not — would’ve had their asses in the slammer within hours.

Mr. Brodhead, the Duke president, said today he hoped that the case would have “a speedy resolution and that the truth of the events is fully clarified,” and said the university and the city needed to work to restore “the bonds this episode has strained.”

What a bunch of mumbo jumbo bullshit, but I guess he can’t say much more than that.

I got into NYC late last night and just checked my news aggregator. What a great surprise. Best wishes to the Carroll family and a thank you to the men who ultimately decided to do the right thing and set her free.

Now, someone find them and hold them accountable for murdering Allan Enwiyah, Jill’s translator.