The Mailbag for July 12 contained this item:
“G.B. comments on my mockery of the New Yorker for adding a politically correct accent mark to the spelling of Guantanamo, the U.S. military base in Cuba. Just as Nicaragua was ?Nee-ka-rrrawa? on oh-so-correct National Public Radio, Guantanamo is “Guant?namo” on the pages of the New Yorker. (And don?t miss the New Yorker?s online Q&A with staff writer Jane Mayer, who went to Guantanamo (or ?Guant?namo?) and shed huge tears because the suspected-terrorist detainees down there can?t cross examine witnesses or hire Mark Geragos as their lawyer.) See my “Guantana-Hype Fest,” July 8.)
“G.B. says Guantanamo is ?leased, not owned, so I was incorrect in referring to it as ?U.S. territory.? Sorry, but I don?t see how that makes any difference, G.B.”
G.B. now responds with an excellent point:
“?Sorry, but I don?t see how that makes any difference, G.B.?
“None, as to your well-placed mockery; however, territory is territory (like Puerto Rico), a renter is a renter (like Guantanamo). Don?t let some moonbat come at you with a ?she doesn?t even know Guantanamo isn?t a U.S. territory.?”
G.B., I stand corrected–and thanks for shielding me against the moonbats.
Update: Get mo? Gitmo with this outstanding analysis by Reuel Marc Gerecht for the Weekly Standard.