Correspondence
Correspondence UP CLOSE & PERSONNEL THE ASSERTION by William Kristol and Robert Kagan ("Do What It Takes in Iraq," September 1/September 8) that "only a handful" of State Department employees have...
...We gave her three bottles of blood, two of them from medical staff...
...Not even Mel Gibson himself makes this claim...
...NATHAN GLAZER Cambridge, MA THE BELLICOSE BEEB JOSH CHAFETZ'S "The Disgrace of the BBC" (August 25) is just the latest assault on the corporation's integrity and journalistic standards unleashed by our coverage of the war in Iraq...
...on his critique of John Kampfner's story of the rescue of POW Jessica Lynch, Chafetz appears to have "spun" the facts in support of his own agenda here, leaving out details which might point to the Pentagon's news-management of the event...
...The reason they listen is because of our commitment to impartiality, objectivity, and internationalism...
...Such a blissfully naive assessment plays havoc with both Jewish welfare and intellectual honesty...
...Many of Chafetz's allegations relating to the story regarding the now notorious intelligence dossier which ended in the tragic death of David Kelly are best left to Lord Hutton to pronounce on in due course...
...From its first moments this film says that the events to follow spring from God's will, in order that the Scriptures might be fulfilled...
...However, Gibson is now promoting the film as "the truth" and deceiving an unsuspecting public into thinking his film has historical credibility...
...Two quite different questions...
...Isn't Kristol enfolding neoconservatism too completely within the Republican party...
...His standards on the use of surveys would not be acceptable on BBC outlets...
...It isn't correct—and it can only do harm...
...Yes, as Novak claims, Mel Gibson did not set out to make an academic documentary...
...The outstanding men and women of the State Department's foreign and civil services are—and will remain—key to achieving the president's objectives in Iraq and the region...
...I was among the group of nine Jewish and Catholic experts who reviewed an early screenplay not materially different from the version of the film I saw regarding its depiction of Jews...
...Finally, it is not true that the film "is not divisive or dangerous for Jews...
...He does not mention the interviews with medical staff at the hospital telling us that Private Lynch was given the best treatment they could provide...
...Contrary to Novak's wishes, the film does not communicate that Jesus died for the sins of all...
...Many of these groups have good reasons for preferring a weakened BBC...
...The facts speak for themselves...
...State Department officers have selflessly cut short assignments, left family members for extended periods of time, and worked side by side with the military in the most dangerous and difficult circumstances...
...Correctly...
...Christians believe that Jesus is "one in being with the Father" and that he accepted his death willingly "for the sins of all...
...Had he done so, he would have consulted experts in the field...
...Mel Gibson's film hits that note, and Christians will not miss it...
...Catholic bishops' guidelines for the presentation of passion narratives...
...Currently there are over 40 State officers serving throughout Iraq, and that number will increase to 60 in the next few weeks...
...Throughout the war," he says, "the BBC was consistently—and correctly— accused of antiwar bias...
...One question is relevant: If The Passion is consistent with the Nicene creed and the principles of Vatican II, why doesn't Gibson respond to these theologians' concerns...
...So, I cannot understand why the ADL wants us to accept Rabbi Korn's interpretation of the film...
...In Nostra Aetate, the Second Vatican Council declared: "The Church believes that Christ who is our peace has through his cross reconciled Jews and Gentiles and made them one in himself...
...It is interesting to note the recent success of BBC World with American audiences during the Iraq war...
...We will continue to work closely with the Defense Department and CPA administrator Bremer to provide the personnel resources necessary for success in Iraq...
...This truth has been repeated many times by Pope John Paul II...
...In America, Jewish organizations and the Christian critics of the film have already been flooded with viciously anti-Semitic emails...
...RICHARD L. ARMITAGE Deputy Secretary of State Washington, DC NEOCONTROVERSY IRVING KRISTOL ("The Neoconservative Persuasion," August 25) is of course authoritative on neoconservatism, but when he writes, "the historical task and political purpose of neoconservatism [was] to convert the Republican party, and American conservatism in general . . . into a new kind of conservative politics suitable to governing a modern democracy," I wonder what he makes of the fact that three of the four figures originally dubbed "neoconservative" (Daniel P Moynihan, Daniel Bell, Nathan Glazer) were and remained Democrats...
...He responded, "There is a lot of revisionism going on...
...A central motif that is graphically repeated throughout the film is that the Jewish religious authorities and the Jewish mob (all those Jews who are not proto-Christian) force the decision of crucifixion on an unwilling Pilate...
...Anti-Semitism is flourishing in Europe and the Middle East...
...Perhaps it is best to point Chafetz to one of the few pieces of academic research that has been done on the subject rather than relying on the views of a few newspaper columnists...
...It is possible he is comparing a recent ITC/BSC poll which showed that 92 percent of the public trusted the news on BBC One, with a recent survey by Mori which asked people who they trusted more on the David Kelly question—the government or the BBC...
...Yet, none of these details made it into the video on the incident released by the Pentagon...
...There was, and is, a neoconservative stream within the Democratic party, too...
...Chafetz also makes the mischievous claim that public confidence in the BBC has fallen by a third in the last nine months...
...British troops are not "our" troops to most of those listeners...
...Its flaws, from the wrong language, to incorrect dating of biblical quotes, to its reliance on the mystical visions of 19th-century anti-Semitic nuns, are glaring and substan-tively color the film's message...
...After viewing the film, I asked Gibson publicly about the movie's conflict with Nostra Aetate, papal statements, and the U.S...
...BBC World Service attracts audiences of 153 million listeners every week, and BBC World reaches over 300 million homes worldwide...
...In America, moreover, Jewish-Christian relations are among the best, warmest, and most mutually respectful in history...
...Novak correctly states that "God cannot be unfaithful to his promises" and "Jews still remain very close to God...
...Jewish leaders are not the only ones receiving hate mail on account of this controversy...
...Those ignorant of the tortured history and problematic theologies of passion narratives may see Gibson's movie as innocuous...
...It is shared by many of our commercial competitors and those who believe a free market economy should also apply to broadcasting...
...And, contrary to Kristol and Kagan's unfounded comments that we are having trouble recruiting volunteers, more than 270 State Department employees have volunteered for service in Iraq— more than 80 of whom bring Arabic language capabilities to the job...
...He is not alone in this view...
...Perhaps this is because they appreciate a view of the world less focused on the United States than that offered by their own national broadcasters...
...FRAN UNSWORTH Head of Political Programmes, BBC London, U.K...
...From Jews, with searing memories of past sufferings, vigorous expressions of anti-Christian passion arrive frequently...
...New Testament experts know the message of the film to be both historical fantasy and bad theology...
...One final scene depicts the destruction of the Temple (i.e., the representation of Judaism) as a punishment for Jewish guilt in killing Jesus, intimating the old supersessionist and contempt theologies repudiated by responsible churches around the world...
...The Catholic theologians found the script "to be without regard for Catholic principles of biblical interpretation" and that it "violates magisterial Catholic documents...
...His example of our "moral equivalence" is our reference to "British troops," not "our" troops...
...He fails to state what data he is relying on for this claim...
...We are castigated for "moral equivalence at a time when Britain is at war with a brutal enemy and its servicemen are dying on the battlefield...
...In assessing the work of James Joyce or Graham Greene, one does not start with the content of their character, the sins of their fathers, or their precise standing within the Catholic Church...
...During the war we received many letters of complaint over our coverage, from those who felt we were biased against the war and from those who firmly believed the opposite...
...Thirty-three State Department officers deployed into Iraq with the first wave of civilians under General Jay Garner...
...Chafetz selectively chooses his evidence to present a case for why the BBC should no longer be funded by the license fee...
...Yet the film implies precisely the opposite...
...The University of Cardiff, in a report published in July 2003, said the BBC was "slightly more likely than other broadcasters to rely on official government or military sources...
...As to the movie itself, Rabbi Korn could not be more wrong...
...Chafetz, however, seems guilty of some of the same approaches he accuses the BBC of, namely "sexing up" his own evidence to present his anti-BBC case...
...Harith al Houssona also told us that he had arranged to deliver Lynch to the American forces in an ambulance two days before the snatch...
...One prominent interfaith expert who viewed the film said that its mob scene is worse than the one in the infamous Oberammergau play...
...If Rabbi Korn's tendentious evaluation of Mel Gibson's The Passion persuades large numbers of either Christians or Jews, no one is served...
...The anti-Semites there will love this film...
...Hardly the action of unpatriotic subversives...
...military was attempting to tell about the event...
...Language is at the heart of the BBC's role as a global broadcaster...
...CRIMES OF THE PASSION NO MATTER how much Michael Novak tries to retrofit The Passion into the salutary teachings of Vatican II, normative Catholic teaching, and what Catholic theological authorities in America think, it doesn't wash ("Passion Play," August 25...
...The crucial question is not who is responsible for the death of Jesus, but who is Jesus...
...Is it not legitimate to question whether that might be because it didn't fit the story the U.S...
...Correspondence UP CLOSE & PERSONNEL THE ASSERTION by William Kristol and Robert Kagan ("Do What It Takes in Iraq," September 1/September 8) that "only a handful" of State Department employees have been at work in Iraq is simply wrong...
...Dr...
...The State Department has been aggressive in identifying and making available some of our most capable and senior diplomats, including current and retired ambassadors to serve in Iraq...
...RABBI EUGENE KORN Director, Interfaith Affairs Anti-Defamation League New York, NY MICHAEL NOVAK RESPONDS: Rabbi Korn's fears may be legitimate, but it is not admirable of him, as a method of art criticism, to begin by defaming the artist...
Vol. 9 • September 2003 • No. 1
