News and Analysis (8/1/12)

Undeterred by the backlash against Michelle Bachmann’s propagation of his wild conspiracy theories, Frank Gaffney now takes sets his sights on destroying the most effective conservative organizer in America:

• Former U.S. Officials Call for Bachmann to Be Replaced on Intelligence Committee (Huffington Post)
• Frank Gaffney Plotting To Take Down Grover Norquist With Muslim Brotherhood Accusations (Huffington Post)

Israel proposes to resolve the quandary of second class status of its Muslim and Christian citizens by forcing them into involuntary servitude under the euphemism of “non-military service”:

• Israel Considers Drafting Its Arab Citizens (Christian Science Monitor)

“Muslim leaders presented the case as an issue of religious liberty, while the town’s Communist mayor Jacques Bourgoin insisted his concern was only for the safety of the campers”:

• French Mayor Retreats After Suspending Fasting Muslims (Reuters)

“Although publicly Mr. Crocker has sometimes presented the glass as half-full when assessing the situation in foreign countries, fellow diplomats say that his private analyses tend to be stark and unromantic” after almost four decades repeatedly confronting “the limits of American power and the hostility of many … to what the United States stands for”:

Huh? In order to prove that it does not recognize polygyny, Britain will INCREASE the welfare aid to polygynous families by  counting excess wives as single women:

• Britain: Muslim Polygamists to Get More Welfare Benefits (Gatestone Institute)

Three-hundred and twenty five people died in violence in Iraq in July, making it the deadliest month in the restive country since August 2010, when 426 perished, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday:

• Violence Hits Nearly Two-Year Peak in Iraq (CNN)
• It’s up to Iraq’s Government to Prevent a Civil War (CNN)

“Human Rights Watch called for a strong international response to “atrocities” committed during … violence in western Myanmar that left at least 78 people dead has subsided but many tens of thousands remain homeless — mostly Rohingya in need of food, shelter and medical care”:

• Human Rights Group Says Myanmar Forces Failed to Halt Violence and Targeted Muslim Rohingya (Washington Post)

Explaining that the Arab Spring has brought the repeal of mandatory seat belt laws to Tunisia, a cab driver explains, “Freedom is not doing something even when you know it’s in your best interest to do it”:

• Rethinking Democracy, Part Six: Democracy as an End in Itself (Rabble)

Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi has freed a group of Islamists jailed for militancy during Hosni Mubarak’s era, a step seen as a gesture to hardliners who supported his presidential bid:

• Egypt’s Mursi Frees Islamists Jailed by Mubarak (Reuters)