Friends of Frum

Perhaps no speechwriter in American history has done more damage to America's diplomatic standing in the world with a single phrase than David Frum did by composing two-thirds of the catastrophic phrase "axis of evil" in the early 2002 State of the Union address. To be precise, Frum came up with "axis of hatred," which was later revised to "axis of evil," but the use of the self-evidently dishonest term "axis" to describe two nations that hated each other -- Iran and Iraq -- and a third -- North Korea -- that had almost nothing to do with the others was the key moment at which the world's post-911 sympathy for America turned to contempt and fear of the designs of the Bush Administration. The use of the word "axis" declared that the U.S. government no longer showed enough of "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind" (as Jefferson put it in the Declaration of Independence) to avoid lying brazenly.

Having done so much damage to America, Frum then turned his talents upon conservatives, with his notorious National Review article "Unpatriotic Conservatives." But let's discuss Frum's current friends, such as Christopher Hitchens. As Tom Piatak notes, Hitch has been in a frenzy of late slandering John Paul II. Further, Hitch published a hagiography of Leon Trotsky as a "prophetic moralist" just last summer in the Atlantic Monthly.

And, of course, Frum is shocked, SHOCKED at Reagan Administration official Vince Cannistraro hinting that Michael Ledeen was "very close" to the forger(s) of the Niger Yellowcake documents. From what little I know of the case, Ledeen probably wasn't involved, but, from what's on the public record about the International Man of Mystery's past, he'd obviously be the most likely single person to know useful information about who snookered America. If this country was serious about getting to the bottom of who forged the documents that helped get us into the war, Ledeen would be the first person we'd take down to Guantanamo to see if he could aid us in our inquiries. But, of course, the Bush Administration has very little interest in the truth emerging. And Ledeen has shown no more enthusiasm for searching for the real forgers than O.J. has in searching for the real killers.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer