A trenchant excerpt:

As close to self-parody as they come, these speeches make clear what motivates those Americans, on campus and off, who remain in a state of moral denial even after getting a Technicolor view of evil: multiculturalism. This ideology goes way beyond preaching the tolerance that is a bedrock virtue of a pluralistic society to insisting that all cultures are equally good–regardless of whether they beat their women, practice slavery or torture political dissidents.

In earlier generations, the schools, the workplace, the entire society, pushed immigrants toward assimilating into the great American “melting pot.” But as multiculturalism took hold, to require immigrant children to learn English, or be taught about the specialness of American history and the greatness of the ideas of the Founding Fathers, or to pledge allegiance to the flag, came to seem a sign of gross cultural insensitivity, even of racism.

It’s a long piece, but well worth the read, particularly for parents with children in college. In fact, in rereading it, I find it impossible for me to recommend it enough.

…conversations on the streets, in the shops and in the markets of this beleaguered capital suggest that a growing number of Afghans – worn out by more than 20 years of war and grinding poverty – wish bin Laden would simply leave.

There is little they can do, however, because few would be willing to challenge the rigidly Islamic regime that rules most of Afghanistan.

There seems to be little anger or bitterness toward the US described in the article–to the degree they are aware of it, they consider the WTC attacks to be very wrong. It would be nice to see a few stories like this reported in Islamabad or Riyad, or the New York Times, for that matter…

According to this story from The Telegraph UK the mullahs in Tehran must be getting pretty nervous. Apparently they’re cosying up to the Taliban (who they have heretofore considered enemies, being of a different flavor of Islam) to keep the original Afghani Shah from returning to power (which is one of the options being considered by the anti-Taliban alliance). They probably figure that with a return to monarchy in Afghanistan, and the pro-western unrest in their own streets, a return of a Persian Shah can’t be far behind…