The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal’s “Best of the Web” at WSJ written by the editor, James Taranto.
Recently released GITMO prisoners Palestinian Mohammed Abdullah Taha Matta, left, and Adel bin Muhammad El Ouerghi from Tunisia in their new neighborhood in Montevideo, Uruguay on Dec. 12, 2014.
Jobs Jihadis Won’t Do
“Six men detained for more than 12 years at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and then sent to Montevideo have upset Uruguay’s government after officials offered them jobs – and they said no,” the Washington Times reports:
President Jose Mujica agreed to help resettle the ex-inmates as a goodwill gesture, The Associated Press reported. But a labor union in the country said the men have turned down several job offers. And now Mr. Mujica is characterizing them as somewhat lazy.
He made a personal visit to the homes of five of the men to encourage them to accept one of the jobs they’d be offered by a local union, but left disillusioned with their work ethic, telling a local radio station that they were about as different from hard-working Uruguayan nationals as they could get.
“If these people were humble people of the desert, poor people, they’d surely be stronger and more primitive, but they’re not,” he said, AP reported. “Through their hands, features and family histories, it seems to me that they’re middle class.”
It’s not every day that a social theory is put to such a quick and decisive test. Nice going, Marie Harf!
Out on a Limb
“Rebel Takeover of Eastern Ukraine City Raises Questions About Cease-Fire, Putin’s Intentions”—headline, FoxNews, Feb. 20
Question and Answer—I
- “Where Have All the Secretaries Gone?”—headline, Bloomberg, April 4, 2013
- “Bespectacled ISIS Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Used to Be a SECRETARY”—headline, Daily Mirror (London), Feb. 19, 2015
For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”
