George W. refuses to walk his own talk on cartoon jailing

The New Republic has an interesting online piece by James Forsyth about the cartoon controversy, and the bobbing and weaving and sins of omission the President has done to find the right pitch. Evidently Bush is still thrashing around.

Momani is the hero of the cartoon controversy. He was the editor of the Jordanian tabloid al-Shihan that published three of the Mohammed caricatures on the grounds that people should know what they were protesting about. The cartoons were accompanied by an editorial that pleaded, "Muslims of the world be reasonable," and asked, "What brings more prejudice against Islam, these caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the cameras or a suicide bomber who blows himself up during a wedding ceremony in Amman?"
For his troubles, Momani was fired, arrested twice, denied bail, and charged with blasphemy by the government of King Abdullah II of Jordan. As of Wednesday he was under arrest in a hospital, where he was suffering from "stress and exhaustion." Abdullah has played an important role in the case. Last week he explained that insulting Mohammed is "a crime that cannot be justified under the pretext of freedom of expression." Agence France Presse subsequently reported that "His words were seen by security forces as a signal to take action against the newspapers."

Forsyth ends up by hoisting Bush, who after the arrest hosted King Abdullah of Jordan and uttered not a peep over the jailing of the brave Arab journalist, by his own petard. Here is the last paragraph:

The Bush administration boasts of its straight talk and willingness to offend foreign governments if that is the price of doing the right thing. But its near-total silence on this case calls into question the president's commitment to his own freedom agenda. It is time for someone to remind Bush of what he said on the steps of the Capitol last January:

America's influence is not unlimited, but fortunately for the oppressed, America's influence is considerable, and we will use it confidently in freedom's cause. ... We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right. America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies. We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own people. America's belief in human dignity will guide our policies. Yet rights must be more than the grudging concessions of dictators; they are secured by free dissent....

It's a pretty simple choice, really. A Jordanian journalist who stood up for freedom finds himself in jail. As Michael Gerson might say: Are we going to take his side or not?

Bush took the high road in his inauguration speech, but refused to walk his talk when the chips were down.