Who is Jim Jones?
Jim Jones was the leader of what could be considered a suicide cult that was called The People’s Temple. Jones believed in mass suicide and felt it was a revolutionary reaction to racism. His father was a Klansman, which is a member of the racist Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Jim Jones preached passionately against racism and eventually built his own community called Jonestown in Guyana, South America. On 18 November 1978, a total of 909 adults and children died, including Jones himself, in a ritual suicide at Jonestown. It was never made clear if Jim Jones had shot himself in the head or if someone else had done it. The event that had preceded the November 1978 Jonestown Massacre, as it is sometimes called, was an appearance at Jonestown by San Francisco Congressman Leo Ryan and his party. They had spent a day there looking for any human rights violations. Following the investigation, Ryan and his party as well as three news reporters and an ex-People’s Temple member were all killed as they tri
When General James Jones testified before the Senate Committee on Armed Services in September 2007, he had an opportunity to make a dramatic impact on the contentious Iraq war debate. Jones, whom Barack Obama has tapped to be his national security adviser, had just finished chairing a special panel that assessed Iraq’s security forces, and was presenting its findings. With his long and unblemished military leadership record, his imposing six-foot-four-inch frame, and his laconic wise-man’s demeanor, Jones had the highly attentive ear of both Congress and the press. A damning assessment of Iraq’s prospects would embolden Democratic arguments that it was high time to withdraw. An upbeat assessment would empower Republicans insisting Iraq could still be saved if Americans would be patient.Remarkably, Jones managed not to disappoint either side. Instead, he trod what The New York Times called a “finely nuanced” middle path. Jones said the Iraqi police force was rife with corruption and sec
With many, including us, focused on the likelihood of Barack Obama naming James Steinberg as his national security adviser, word comes today that the job may go to Marine General James L. Jones, who retired last year after serving as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and Commander of U.S. European Command. If true, it would reinforce the impression that Obama is surrounding himself with powerful advisers known more for pragmatism than ideological fealty. Jones has been less bipartisan than nonpartisan, hewing to the traditional idea of an apolitical military. He has no declared party affiliation and, as the Wall Street Journal reported last year, was courted by both parties during the 2008 campaign, with Steny Hoyer, the House majority leader, going so far as to compare him to “Eisenhower, who belonged to no camp and everyone wanted him.” During the primaries, Hillary Clinton mentioned that she could see a place for Jones in her cabinet, and Obama is taken with the general, whose tough-
