DOER PROFILE Flunking The Intelligence Test I ALSO A\ City: West Bloomfield Passion: Benny Goodman Why did you become interested in jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman — "the king of swing" — when you were growing up in Connecticut? • "I grew up in a tough neighborhood. When they insulted me or my twin sister, Georgia, I flattened them. But I still had an inferiority complex. "I loved Benny Goodman's music — I also loved Hank Greenberg, the Detroit Tigers' first-baseman. These two gave me a desire to live. "They made me proud to be Jewish. In the war, when I flew 35 missions over Germany, I used to put a Jewish star on one of the bombs every time." Did you ever hear Goodman in person? "My older brother — he was 20 years old — took me to the Paramount Theatre in New York in 1937 to see him. They had a stage below the level of the seats. When the stage comes up, Goodman turns around to the audience. "Watching Benny Goodman was the highlight of my life. When he died, I cried." What do you have in the Benny Goodman collec- tion that you bring to senior housing facilities to share with the residents? "I have a one-hour video about Benny Goodman's life; a video of his being honored and everything he ever recorded. "I've been to the Evergreen Health and Living Center and the Heatherwood in Southfield; Fleischman Residence and West Bloomfield Nursing Center in West Bloomfield; and the Farmington Hills Inn. I play the music and I tell the folks there about Goodman." Rohan is available to bring his Goodman film and memorabilia to seniors groups, (248) 661-4570. - Diana Lieberman, staffwriter REPORT A DOER- Know a Doer -- someone of any age doing interest- ing, meaningful things in their life outside of their job? Share suggestions with Keri Guten Cohen, story development editor, at (248) 351-5144 or e-mall: kcohenethejewishnews.corn 2/20 2004 10 GEORGE CANTOR Reality Check s it ever acceptable to do the right thing for the wrong reason? In the realm of ethics, that is a question that can be end- lessly debated. But in the realm of politics, it happens all the time. For example, an American presi- dent stands accused of deliberately misusing intelligence, lying about our entry into war and unneces- sarily sacrificing lives. I refer, of course, to Franklin D. Roosevelt. For years after Pearl Harbor, he was charged with ignoring intelligence that indicated the Japanese were preparing for just such an attack. Most of these accusations came from the nutso right. But in recent years, the declassification of documents from that time has made the charges more credible and they have been repeated. During the elec- tion campaign of 1940, FDR also promised voters repeatedly that he had no intention of leading the United ranklin States into the war in Europe. It can be argued that the president understood the necessity of opposing the Axis before it had acquired sufficient power. to threaten America's security. He surely knew by December 1941 that the country had to get into the war, although pub- lic opinion was dead set against it. Maybe he did what he needed to do. There is no such thing as a good war. People die no matter how noble the cause. Winning inde- pendence, freeing slaves, defeating fascism. The dead are just as dead as they were in the wars to grab Canadian, Mexican or Spanish territory. But not many people would claim now that the United States should have stayed out of World War II. I really don't know how history will judge the present war in Iraq. It's much too soon to tell, no matter what the New York Times may say. I do know that Libya was taking notes and has suddenly become nice as pie, and it certainly caught the attention of Syria. It removed a danger- ously unstable dictator from a dangerous part of the world, and while the toll of American troops rises agonizingly, the number is still less than one- fifth of those who died on Sept. 11. Also forgotten in the blanket criticism of President Bush, is that every Western intelligence service — every one of them — was convinced that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. So this was not just a case of failure or misuse of American intelligence. It was something far more disturbing and dangerous: a universal breakdown of informa- tion. In his recent book Intelligence in War, British mil- itary historian John Keegan says that only Israel has successfully been able to penetrate Arab nations with effective intelligence work. The Mossad uses former residents of these countries, people who know the customs . and the dialects and can work invisibly. America, appar- ently, has no such operatives. Delano Roosevelt Me If it is a daunt- ing task to pene- trate an Arab nation, how much more difficult it is to deal with a religious movement such as radical Islam? This is what we are at war with, although the forces of political correctness have made that the truth that dare not speak its name. The loathing that many Democrats feel for Bush does not strike me as the basis for an especially effective campaign strategy. It didn't work against Richard Nixon in 1972, a president who was hated at least as much. Nor did it work for Republicans against Harry Truman in 1948. Surely there are excellent reasons to oppose Bush, especially in the area of trade and fiscal policy. But beating him up over the war is the wrong issue. Because most Americans still feel it was the right thing to do, however misguided the reasoning may have been. [1] George Cantor's e-mail address is gcantor@thejevvishnews.com Shabbat Candlelighting "I light up my home with light and love." — Sallee Rosen Vainik, West Bloomfield, Yoga teacher Candlelighting Friday, Feb. 20, 5:52 p. Candlelighting Friday, Feb. 27, 6:01 p.m. Shabbat Ends Saturday, Feb. 21, 6:55 p.m. Shabbat Ends. Saturday, Feb. 28, 7:03 p.m. To submit a candlelighting message, call Miriam Amzalak of the Lubavitch Women's Organization at (248) 548-6771 or e mail: mamzalakuno.com -