Ancient origins

Christianity and the Christian Church from the beginning of their history suffered from two threats: external persecution by the pagan Roman Emperors, and internal strife caused by theological disputes.
Early examples are the Jerusalem Council reported in Acts of the Apostles (Chapter 15) and the many occasions, in which the Apostle Paul defends his own apostleship, and urges Christians in various places to beware of false teachers, or of anything contrary to what was handed to them by him. The epistles of John and Jude also warn of false teachers, as does the writer of the Book of Revelation, John of Patmos.
Since the 2nd century, Church authorities (bishops and local synods) reacted to these disputes by condemning some theologians as heretics and defining doctrine more clearly to combat perceived errors. In this way, orthodoxy (Greek: the right view) was defined in contrast to heresy (wrong choice). The most notable heresies were Gnosticism, Marcionism, Montanism and various forms of Monarchianism. During this period, those condemned for heresy were excommunicated from the Church community and only readmitted after having recanted the controversial opinions. Bishops and other church leaders were stripped of their offices and had to resign valuables placed in their care.
When Constantine I adopted Christianity in 313, he among other things hoped that the new religion would help unify the Empire. However, such expectations were threatened by the appearance of heresies inside of the Church. Constantine felt compelled to involve himself with these doctrinal or disciplinary struggles, as in the case of the Donatists or the Arians. He tried to enforce decisions reached by the Church by banishing obstinate opponents - clergy and laity - of these decisions. Non-Christians however were not concerned by these measures. Some of his successors, while leaning to the sides of the Arians, increased their use of force in Church matters, regularly banishing bishops from their sees. Theodosius, an unequivocal supporter of Orthodox Christianity, also made Christianity the official religion of the Empire.
The first person to be executed as a "heretic" was Priscillian of Avila. Having been condemned for heresy by a synod, he appealed to the Emperor Maximus; the latter, however, had Priscillian and six of his followers beheaded at Treves in 385. This act was approved by a synod which met at Treves in the same year, though the most prominent bishops of that time, Ambrose of Milan, Martin of Tours and Pope Siricius protested against Priscillian's execution, largely on the jurisdictional grounds that an ecclesiastical case should not be decided by a civil tribunal, and worked to reduce the persecution.
The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that "various penal laws were enacted by the Christian emperors against heretics as being guilty of crime against the State. In both the Theodosian and Justinian codes they were styled infamous persons ... In some particularly aggravated cases sentence of death was pronounced upon heretics, though seldom executed in the time of the Christian emperors of Rome."[1] Though the death penalty was seldom executed during the Early Middle Ages, these laws nonetheless later served as the basis of the prosecution of heretics, especially after Emperor Frederick II had confirmed these rulings.
[edit]Inquisition tribunals and institutions

Before the twelfth century, the Catholic Church had already suppressed heresy, but on an ad hoc basis. Since the Church, at that time, had no structured system for suppressing heresy, the suppressions were generally slow and without any pattern.
In the 12th century (Episcopal inquisition), the Catholic Church together with secular governments started to gradually develop a structured way to deal with heresy.[citation needed] In that time, Church Councils (composed of bishops and archbishops) used local authorities to prosecute those deemed to be heretics. Inquisition was, by then, referred to by the Church as "Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis Sanctum Officium", or "Holy Office of Inquisition into Heretical Wickedness".[citation needed]
Later in the thirteenth century (Papal inquisition), the pope assigned the Dominican Order for the duty of inquisitors. Since then Inquisitors were few (always less than 10),[citation needed] acting in the name of the Pope with full authority. They judged heresy alone, using local authorities to put a tribunal and prosecute heretics. Since the end of the fifteenth century (Spanish Inquisition) they were ruled by a Grand Inquisitor. Inquisitors persisted through time until the nineteenth century.[citation needed]
In the 16th century, in Roman Inquisition, the Pope Paul III established a system of tribunals, ruled by the "Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition", staffed by cardinals and other officials. In 1908 it was changed to "Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office" by Saint Pope Pius X.
In 1965, the "Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office" was changed again to Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which persists down to today.
[edit]Historic Inquisition movements

Historians distinguish between four different manifestations of the Inquisition: the Medieval Inquisition, the Spanish Inquisition, the Portuguese Inquisition and the Roman Inquisition.
Because of its objective, combating heresy, the Inquisition had jurisdiction only over baptized members of the Church (which, however, encompassed the vast majority of the population). Non-Christians could still be tried for blasphemy by secular courts. Also, most of the witch trials were held by secular courts.
[edit]Medieval Inquisition
Main article: Medieval Inquisition
The Medieval Inquisition is a term historians use to describe the various inquisitions that started around 1184 , including the Episcopal Inquisition (1184-1230s) and later the Papal Inquisition (1230s). It was in response to large popular movements throughout Europe considered apostate or heretical to Christianity, in particular Catharism and Waldensians in southern France and northern Italy. These were the first inquisition movements of many that would follow.
[edit]Spanish Inquisition

Representation of an Auto de fe, (1475).
Many artistic representations depict torture and the burning at the stake as occurring during the auto da fe. Actually, burning at the stake usually occurred after, not during the ceremonies.
Main article: Spanish Inquisition
The Spanish Inquisition was set up by King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile in 1478 with the forced approval of Pope Sixtus IV. In contrast to the previous Inquisition, it operated completely under royal authority, though staffed by secular clergy and orders, and independently of the Holy See. It aimed primarily at converts from Judaism and Islam (who were still residing in Spain after the end of the Moor control of Spain), who were suspected of either continuing to adhere to their old religion (often after having been converted under duress) or having fallen back into it, and later at Protestants; in Sicily and Southern Italy, which were under Spanish rule, it targeted Greek Orthodox Christians. After religious disputes waned in the 17th century, the Spanish Inquisition more and more developed into a secret police against internal threats to the state.
The Spanish Inquisition would subsequently be employed in certain Spanish colonies such as Peru and Mexico. The Spanish Inquisition continued in the Americas until Mexican Independence and was not abolished in Europe until 1834.
[edit]Portuguese Inquisition
Main article: Portuguese Inquisition
The Portuguese Inquisition was established in Portugal in 1536 by the King of Portugal, João III, as a Portuguese analogue of the more famous Spanish Inquisition.
Main article: Goa Inquisition
The Goa Inquisition was the office of the Inquisition acting in the Indian city of Goa and the rest of the Portuguese empire in Asia. Established in 1560 , it was aimed primarily at wayward new converts from Hinduism.
[edit]Roman Inquisition
Main article: Roman Inquisition
In 1542, Pope Paul III established, a permanent congregation staffed with cardinals and other officials, whose task was to maintain and defend the integrity of the faith and to examine and proscribe errors and false doctrines.[citation needed] This body, the Congregation of the Holy Office, now called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, part of the Roman Curia, became the supervisory body of local Inquisitions. The Pope appoints one of the cardinals to preside over the meetings. There are usually ten other cardinals on the Congregation, as well as a prelate and two assistants all chosen from the Dominican Order. The Holy Office also has an international group of consultants, experienced scholars of theology and canon law, who advise it on specific questions.[citation needed]
Arguably the most famous case tried by the Roman Inquisition was that of Galileo Galilei in 1633 . Because of Rome's power over the Papal States, Roman Inquisition activity continued until the mid-1800s.
In 1908 the of the Holy Office of the Inquisition was changed to The Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office. In 1965 the name was changed again to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
[edit]Other uses of the word "Inquisition"

Even though the last notable actions of the Inquisition occurred in the mid-1800s, the word "Inquisition" remains a part of modern vocabulary; even those with no interest in European history associate it with negative meanings.[2] Because of the negative images associated with the Inquisition, the term has taken on a pejorative usage, and is often used to express disapproval.
The Literary Inquisition in Chinese history.
In modern American politics, United States Senate investigations are often called "Inquisitions" as a means of expressing disapproval of the investigators. For example some people call the Second Red Scare (more commonly, if less precisely, termed simply "McCarthyism") an inquisition.
Robert Anton Wilson's book The New Inquisition (ISBN 1-56184-002-5) is critical of the application of the Scientific Method in the 20th century.
[edit]Derivative works

The Inquisitions have been the subject of many cultural works. Some include:
The Spanish Inquisition was the subject of a classic Monty Python sketch ("Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!").
The short story by Edgar Allan Poe, The Pit and the Pendulum was set during the Spanish Inquisition.
In the alternative history novel The Two Georges by Harry Turtledove and Richard Dreyfuss, the Spanish Inquisition remains active, in Spain itself and throughout Latin America, during the whole of the Twentieth Century.
A body known as the Inquisition exists in the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Mel Brooks's 1981 film The History of the World, Part I contains a musical number about the Spanish Inquisition.
In Terry Pratchett's Small Gods, the Omnian church has a Quisition, with sub-sections Inquisition and Exquisition.
In J.K. Rowling's 2003 book Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Professor Dolores Umbridge sets up an Inquisition at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with herself as the High Inquisitor.
The "Dark Ages" setting in the World of Darkness (WoD) fantasy universe makes heavy use of the Inquisition as that particular setting takes place during the early 13th century.
The computer game "Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader" made by the late Black Isle Studios uses the Spanish Inquisition as a key plot for the storyline and development of the game.
Man of La Mancha is a Broadway musical which tells the story of the classic novel Don Quixote as a play within a play, performed by prisoners as they await a hearing with the Spanish Inquisition.
Starways Congress is an element of the Ender-verse by Orson Scott Card. In the latter books, they play an important part in determining the fate of Lusitania. In Speaker for the Dead, Ender Wiggin threatens to become an Inquisitor and revoke the catholic lisence of Lusitania, thus ruining the fragile catholic culture there.
[edit]See also

The Inquisition "Myth": Historical Revisionism and the Inquisition
Witchhunt
Konrad von Marburg
Malleus Maleficarum
Inquisitorial system
List of Grand Inquisitors of Spain
Historical revisionism (political)
Histoire de l'Inquisition en France
Michael Servetus
Vatican Secret Archives
[edit]Notes

^ Catholic Encyclopedia
^ The Real Inquisition; Investigating the popular myth. By Thomas F. Madden
[edit]References

Foxe's Book of Martyrs by John Foxe (Bridge-Logos Publishers) ISBN 0-88270-672-1
Edward Burman, The Inquisition: The Hammer of Heresy (Sutton Publishers, 2004) ISBN 0-7509-3722-X
A new edition of a book first published in 1984, a good, well-written and objective general history based on the main primary sources.
Edward M. Peters, Inquisition. (University of California Press, 1989). ISBN 0-520-06630-8
A brief, balanced inquiry, with an especially good section on the 'Myth of the Inquisition' (see The Inquisition Myth). This is particularly valuable because much of the history available in English of the Inquisition was written in the 19th century by Protestants interested in documenting the dangers of Catholicism or Catholic apologists demonstrating that the Inquisition had been an entirely reasonable judicial body without flaws.
Henry Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision. (Yale University Press, 1999). ISBN 0-300-07880-3
This revised edition of his 1965 original contributes to the understanding of the Spanish Inquisition in its local context.
Cecil & Irene Roth, A history of the Marranos, Sepher-Hermon Press, 1974.
Simon Whitechapel, Flesh Inferno: Atrocities of Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition (Creation Books, 2003). ISBN 1-84068-105-5
William Thomas Walsh, Characters of the Inquisition (TAN Books, 1997). ISBN 0-89555-326-0
Parker, Geoffrey “Some Recent Work on the Inquisition in Spain and Italy” Journal of Modern History 54:3 1982
Given, James B Inquisition and Medieval Society New York, Cornell University Press, 2001
Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain (4 volumes), (New York and London, 1906–1907).
J.A. Llorente, “Historia Critica de la Inquisicion de Espana”
W.T. Walsh, “Isabella of Spain,” (1931).
Genaro Garcia, “Autos de fe de la Inquisicion de Mexico,” (1910).
F. Garau, “La Fee Triunfante,” (1691-reprinted 1931).
V. Vignau, “Catalogo... de la Inquisicion de Toledo,” (1903).
J. Baker, “History of the Inquisition,” (1736).
J. Marchant, “A Review of the Bloody Tribunal,” (1770).
E.N Adler, “Autos de fe and the Jew,” (1908).
Ludovico a Paramo, “De Origine et Progressu Sanctae Inquisitionis,” (1598).
J.M. Marin, “Procedimientos de la Inquisicion” (2 volumes), (1886).
R. Cappa, “La Inquisicion Espanola,” (1888).
A. Paz y Mellia, “Catalogo Abreviado de Papeles de Inquisicion,” (1914).
M. Jouve, “Torquemada,” (1935).
Sir Alexandr G. Cardew, “A Short History of the Inquisition,” (1933).
G. G. Coulton, “The Inquisition,” (1929).
Ramon de Vilana Perlas, “La Verdadera Practica Apostolica de el S. Tribunal de la Inquisicion,” (1735).
H.B. Piazza, “A Short and True Account of the Inquisition and its Proceeding,” (1722).
A.L. Maycock, “The Inquisition,” (1926).
H. Nickerson, “The Inquisition,” (1932).
L. Tanon, “Histoire des Tribunaux de l’Inquisition,” (1893).
A. Herculano, “Historia da Origem e Estabelecimento da Inquisicao em Portugal,” (English translation, 1926).
Henry Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision. (1999).
Simon Whitechapel, Flesh Inferno: Atrocities of Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition (Creation Books, 2003).
Miranda Twiss, The Most Evil Men And Women In History (Michael O'Mara Books Ltd., 2002).
Geoffrey Parker “Some Recent Work on the Inquisition in Spain and Italy” Journal of Modern History 54:3 1982
Warren H. Carroll, "Isabel: the Catholic Queen" Front Royal, Virginia, 1991 (Christendom Press)
Emile van der Vekene: Bibliotheca bibliographica historiae sanctae inquisitionis. Bibliographisches Verzeichnis des gedruckten Schrifttums zur Geschichte und Literatur der Inquisition. Vol. 1 - 3. Topos-Verlag, Vaduz 1982-1992, ISBN 3-289-00272-1, ISBN 3-289-00578-X (7110 titres sur le thème de l'Inquisition)
Emile van der Vekene: La Inquisición en grabados originales. Exposición realizada con fondos de la colección Emile van der Vekene de la Universidad San Pablo-CEU, Aranjuez, 4-26 de Mayo de 2005, Madrid: Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 2005. ISBN 84-96144-86-0
[edit]Online works
Ludwig von Pastor, History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources, 40 vols. St. Louis,
B.Herder 1898
Joseph de Maistre, tr. John Fletcher, Letters on the Spanish Inquisition, London : Printed by W. Hughes, 1838 (composed 1815):— late defense of the Inquisition by the principal author of the Counter-Enlightenment.
Sister Antoinette Marie Pratt, A.M., The attitude of the Catholic Church towards witchcraft and the allied practices of sorcery and magic, A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Philosophy of The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. June 1915, reprinted 1982, New York : AMS Press, ISBN 0-404-18429-4 - Google Books
[edit]External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Category:Inquisition
The Inquisition by Jewish Virtual Library
Frequently Asked Questions About the Inquisition by James Hannam
Books on the Inquisition
Catholic Encyclopedia: "Inquisition"
The Secret Files of The Inquistion. PBS
Catholic Answers: "The Inquisition"
The Protestant Inquisition:"Reformation" Intolerance and Persecution by Dave Armstrong
"The Immeasurable Curiousity of Edward Peters", p.4 as found in the Pennsylvania Gazzette, a publication of the University of Pennsylvania
"One Cheer for the Inquisition" online copy of the Catholic Dossier article by Gerard Bradley, Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame.
Spain and the Spaniard
Scholarly studies including Lea's History
Jewish Virtual Library on the Spanish Inquisition
Jewish Encyclopedia of 1906 on the Inquisition
The first papal Inquisition and the Cathars of the Languedoc
Nobody Expects the Mosaic Inquisition! This Rock, July-August 1998, by Jimmy Akin
Galileo Project: Christianity: Inquisition
Spanish Inquisition (1478-1813) (in spanish language)
Index of the court proceedings and other documents of the Portuguese Inquisition (in Portuguese)
Clandestine Judaism in the Shadow of the Inquisition, Dr. Rivkah Shafek Lissak
The paths of Cathars by the philosopher Yves Maris.

Conference Marks First Step Toward Inter-Faith Reconciliation in Iraq
By Tim Kilbride
Special to American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 24, 2007 – A meeting of Iraqi religious leaders from various sects and faiths has opened a door for further progress on reining in factional violence in Iraq, said the top U.S. chaplain in the country.

The Iraqi Inter-Religious Congress, held June 12-13 in Baghdad, brought together 55 representatives of the most influential clerics and religious dignitaries from around the country. In doing so, it potentially set a precedent for continued dialogue on how to reconcile the Iraqi people, Army Chaplain (Col.) Micheal Hoyt, command chaplain for Multinational Force Iraq, said during a June 21 conference call with online journalists.
Hoyt said the gathering comprised the "largest representation of faith groups and geographic dispersion from north, south, east and west in Iraq at a religious conference in 37 years." As such, "it was a pretty historic event," he observed.
Delegates to the congress were selected by the country's various faith groups to include people with national-level influence, Hoyt said. He emphasized that despite Defense Department funding, it was an Iraqi-led event, encouraged by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as a way to potentially slow the spread of bloodshed in the country.
"He was overwhelmingly supportive of this event," Hoyt noted. "The agreement (reached by the congress) was the first of its kind to receive the personal endorsement of the prime minister."
Representatives of Shiite clerics Ali al-Sistani and Muqtada al-Sadr attended, as did delegates from the Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars. Other notables included the Iraqi minister of human rights, an advisor to Maliki, and 11 members of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, Hoyt said.
Together they forged a resolution Hoyt characterized as "the first broad-based religious accord to support and recognize the legitimacy of the government of Iraq."
The delegates also rejected terrorism and sectarian violence, the chaplain said.
Their agreement was the first to "publicly renounce al Qaeda by name, and to publicly declare that the spread of arms and unauthorized weapons is to be viewed as a criminal act in Iraq," Hoyt said.
"It's the first religious accord that provides a way ahead for a committed public action by religious leaders to denounce violence, deny terrorism, demonstrate support for democratic principles and the constitution, and to display national unity," he continued.
An equally important insertion, Hoyt noted, was a call for action to the Iraqi government, urging it to build on the good will generated by this and other reconciliation conferences, past and present.
The government was requested to look back at some of the secular gatherings that have taken place at the tribal level and "see what (can be brought) forward out of them into an overall package of reconciliation," Hoyt explained.
Other national conferences will follow, the chaplain said.
"It's part of process, a prolonged process," he noted, "to build this grass roots religious leader voice, so that the government of Iraq and the religious leaders of Iraq ... (can) have a platform to establish a dialogue."
In addition, he said, those leaders will direct a host of regional-level conferences to follow up on the national dialogues.
Despite the consensus for peace that came out of the gathering, Hoyt cautioned against a rush to optimism.
"The Iraqi Inter-Religious Congress is not the silver bullet. It's a part of the ammunition belt used to help stabilize this country," he said.
Whether there will be concrete progress on reconciliation "just remains to be seen," Hoyt said. "We'll just see if we can get a voice loud enough and good enough to actually make something happen, or if it's kind of overwhelmed by other events that are also of national and international (strategic) importance."
Still, he added, "I have to believe that their message is having some level of decisive impact on the restraint of violence."
Maintaining an interfaith dialogue and translating it into government action and political reconciliation is the goal of his own outreach efforts, Hoyt explained. In the wake of the congress, he said he remains encouraged progress can be made.
"Before there just wasn't anything to build off of; now there is," he said. "Where it's going to go is anybody's guess, but it couldn't have gone anywhere had this not occurred."
(Tim Kilbride is assigned to New Media, American Forces Information Service.)

June 25, 2007
Hollywood Seeks Ways to Fit Its Content Into the Realm of the iPhone

By LAURA M. HOLSON
LOS ANGELES, June 24 — The iPhone doesn’t go on sale until Friday, but Steven P. Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, is already changing the perception of the mobile phone, from a quick way to call a friend to a hip, media-friendly device. In doing so, he has forced mobile phone and Hollywood executives to react by chasing hungrily after the newest thing or face being left behind.

Mobile phone makers are scurrying to offer new products to compete with the iPhone’s touch screen. Wireless carriers also seem more willing to listen to their partners’ advice. And in Hollywood, where Mr. Jobs’s convention-defying tactics are all too familiar, media executives are eagerly preparing for a new era as they hope to position more content where consumers want it: in their hands.

Two years ago, David Ulmer, senior director of entertainment products at Motorola in Sunnyvale, Calif., and his colleagues got a “no, thank you” from wireless carriers when they tried to pitch a mobile phone with a touch screen. “Now, we are finding it easier to get people to talk to us,” Mr. Ulmer said. “Apple has changed the perception of how sexy a phone can be. Now, everyone wants to get in. It’s a whole new world. We’re in talks with everyone, Universal Studios, Time Warner, you name it.”

But perhaps the biggest shift is the notion that in the not-too-distant future, these various groups — which have worked together uneasily so far — could find themselves as competitors as consumers demand more and better access to media and care less about how they get it.

For years, mobile phone carriers like AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint have closely controlled what cellphone users watch, when they watch it, and on what kind of screen they watch it — much the way the networks did with television before new technologies loosened their grip. Many in Hollywood and Silicon Valley hope the iPhone’s multimedia features will make it easier for any mobile-crazed consumer to do the same things they do on the Web: watch their favorite television shows, download maps, send e-mail messages to friends and swap videos.

In what is the beginning of many attempts to make the cellphone more Web friendly, Apple has designed its own application so consumers can receive YouTube videos through a Wi-Fi network. Industry executives predict that as it becomes easier to get information via Wi-Fi networks, more consumers will bypass traditional wireless networks altogether. That prospect, while helpful for phone makers and media concerns, is frightening for service providers if consumers begin to regard them as irrelevant.

“Video, particularly, has largely been behind a wall,” said John Smelzer, the general manager of mobile operations for Fox Interactive Media, referring to the limited and clumsy access most consumers have to news, sports and entertainment on traditional cellphones. “It’s the antithesis of what’s happening on the Web. Any device that replicates the experience online is good for the entire industry. It will help us reach a mass audience,” he said.

Even Mr. Jobs’s competitors, who are quick to point out that the iPhone has limitations, like its sole availability through AT&T, say that it will nudge resistant wireless carriers to pay more attention to their customers’ wishes. “The iPhone is a fantastic device, but they don’t control the network,” said Craig Shapiro, head of content strategy and acquisition for Helio, the mobile phone maker and service company. “For these things to work, though, everyone has to get with the program.”

Communications companies know they have to adapt or risk being left behind. Glenn Lurie, president of national distribution for AT&T’s wireless business, said in an interview that it took an outsider like Mr. Jobs to generate interest in mobile’s potential that the industry could not muster itself. “The wireless industry has been around 20 years, and people have found the industry to be somewhat complex,” Mr. Lurie said. “Steve Jobs and the Apple team come at it from a different perspective.”

Most important, owners of Apple products stay faithful. A recent article in the Harvard Business Review said, by contrast, that in the consumer electronics category, customers of mobile phone services were among the most dissatisfied. Pricing plans and services were too confusing. Contracts were restrictive. Service among some carriers was unpredictable. And early attempts to offer video proved more frustrating than compelling.

“They don’t make it easy,” said Bill Sanders, vice president of mobile networks programming at Sony Pictures Television International. “Everyone I talk to says, ‘There are all these things that are wrong with the iPhone.’ But consumers can’t wait to get their hands on it. That’s because Apple makes it easy.”

This will not be Mr. Jobs’s first experience in redefining an industry. Many executives in the beleaguered music business hailed Mr. Jobs as a savior when the iPod was introduced in 2002 because it was an alternative to the illegal online sharing of songs. Three years later, though, they derided him in a war over pricing.

Film executives, who watched Mr. Jobs’s relationship with the music industry sour, have been more cautious in their dealings with him. In particular, major studios, including Warner Brothers Entertainment and 20th Century Fox, have resisted Mr. Jobs’s overtures to put movies on the video iPod unless he guaranteed copyright protection and reduced prices.

So far, Apple and AT&T are getting along. But even Hollywood blockbusters can have a surprising ending. “All I can speak to is that working with the Apple team for two years, the relationship has been terrific,” Mr. Lurie said. “I can’t speculate what will happen down the road.”

To be sure, all the parties in the three industries involved are circling each other warily as they seek to protect their overlapping interests. But as their ambitions collide, rivals are hiring talent from disparate fields to navigate through a unsettling era.

Cingular Wireless, which merged with AT&T, has lost a number of executives who left to join start-ups or television production companies. Among them is Jim Ryan, who helped develop mobile video at Cingular. He left in May to become chief executive of Mobile Campus, a messaging service for college students. Last year, Jon Vlassopulos, a former senior director of business development at Cingular, joined the television production company Edemol USA as a new-media executive.

A background in movies is proving valuable, too. Sherry Lansing, the former chairman of the motion picture group of Paramount Pictures, was elected to Qualcomm’s board last year, sought after for her keen knowledge of Hollywood. More recently, Christine Peters, the producer of “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” was named to the board of Xero Mobile, a fledgling cellphone service aimed at college students.

“Filmmakers are not going to be happy having their films downloaded to cellphones with poor quality,” Ms. Peters said. “That’s the beauty of the iPhone. It’s simple and it looks good. Half the people who have these fancy cellphones don’t know how to use them.”

The Next Globalization Backlash
Wait Till the Kremlin Starts Buying Our Stocks
By Sebastian Mallaby
Monday, June 25, 2007; A19

The next globalization battle lurks over the horizon, but you can already guess its contours. It will be shaped by two revolutions in finance and business: the growth of vast government-controlled investment funds abroad and the muddled progress toward shareholder democracy in this country. Taken together, these changes will give foreign governments a say in how corporate America is run. Lou Dobbs is going to love this one.

The rise of government investment funds suddenly preoccupies financiers. Treasury officials who never before gave a thought to these outfits now want them on their speed dials. Five years ago, governments were sitting on $1.9 trillion in foreign currency reserves, which was roughly what they needed to stave off financial crises. Now they have $5.4 trillion, way beyond their prudential needs and more than triple the amount in the world's hedge funds. Increasingly, this cash is being moved into "sovereign wealth funds," which have come from obscurity to manage assets worth an additional $1.6 trillion.

These reserves are likely to keep growing. A big chunk of the expansion has occurred in energy-exporting states, and the prices of oil and natural gas show no signs of falling. High energy prices explain why Russia's government, which had negative assets at the time of its default in 1998, now has reserves worth $315 billion, plus an investment fund worth $90 billion. They explain why Nigeria, which pleaded poverty and secured debt relief as recently as 2006, is now sitting on reserves of $80 billion. The Kuwait Investment Office is rumored to manage $500 billion, and the United Arab Emirates has an investment fund worth perhaps $1 trillion (the Arabs won't disclose the real numbers).

The second motor behind sovereign funds is the global trade imbalance. East Asia's exporters rake in dollars that they convert into domestic currency, and the dollars wind up in the region's central banks: China has accumulated an astonishing $1.2 trillion in foreign currency reserves and Japan around $900 billion. Even though the U.S. trade deficit is starting to shrink, it remains huge by historical standards. The flip side is that East Asia's trade surpluses will persist, and the region's central banks will bulge with yet more money.

When central banks amass reserves, they park them in U.S. Treasury bills and risk-free bonds issued by other rich governments. But the buzz about sovereign wealth funds signals that this is changing. The newly wealthy governments are following forebears that grew rich a generation back -- the Gulf states, Singapore, Norway. They want a better return on their savings than they can get from Treasury bills, so they are going to invest in companies.

This need not be sinister. As former Treasury secretary Lawrence Summers argues in the new book "Sovereign Wealth Management," a government that fails to invest excess reserves in corporate assets is irresponsible. Sovereign wealth funds can professionalize the management of national wealth, argues the book's editor, Jennifer Johnson-Calari of the World Bank. A generation ago, the government of Sao Tome might have hidden its oil revenue in Swiss accounts. Today it is consulting the state government of Alaska about sound and transparent management.

But the political backlash is already beginning. China just bought a $3 billion stake in Blackstone Group, the American private-equity firm that sold a chunk of itself to outside investors last week. Blackstone's IPO was controversial even without the China connection -- private-equity firms are already viewed as the engines of ruthlessly competitive global capital, and now they are allied with the engine of ruthlessly competitive global labor. Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) raised the predictable red flag. Blackstone may own firms with sensitive national-security information, the senator maintained; therefore, the Chinese investment in Blackstone should have been delayed by regulators.

Imagine Webb's protests if the Chinese do what they say they will do: emulate one of Singapore's national wealth funds, Temasek Holdings, which buys direct stakes in foreign companies without going through a middleman such as Blackstone. Chunks of corporate America could be bought by Beijing's government -- or, for that matter, by the Kremlin. Given the Chinese and Russian tendency to treat corporations as tools of government policy, you don't have to be paranoid to ask whether these would be purely commercial holdings.

But the final straw may be that even the least threatening form of investment -- the purchase of publicly traded equities -- will not escape controversy. This is because of that second upheaval: the advent in the United States of something approaching shareholder democracy. As Alan Murray writes in his new book, " Revolt in the Boardroom," companies are no longer controlled by all-powerful CEOs. Instead, chief executives increasingly live in fear of activist shareholders and directors. Bosses from Harry Stonecipher of Boeing to Carly Fiorina of Hewlett-Packard have been ejected from the corporate suite in a manner that would not have been conceivable a generation earlier.

What if the Chinese are seen to have a hand in the firing of some future Fiorina? The more shareholders exercise power, the surer the backlash against governments that buy up chunks of the stock market.

smallaby@cfr.org

Drilling for Justice

Army officers have been pleased with Michael Gordon’s portrayal of the events in Baqubah.

On 19 June American forces sealed off Baqubah and began attacking targets within the city. The immediate goal of Arrowhead Ripper was to free Baqubah of al Qaeda, by trapping and killing its members, but according to American officers here, public remarks by senior military officials may have flushed many AQI leaders before the attack. Despite this frustrating and significant setback, progress toward the end-state goal of Arrowhead Ripper—turning over Baqubah to Iraqi government control—appears to be working, at least in terms of the removal of the current AQI leadership and its quasi-government. There are conflicting signals about how many of the AQI leadership escaped before Arrowhead Ripper launched. This weekend’s capture of a possible high-value target in Baqubah indicates that not all AQI leaders successfully fled the city before the attack.

Media reports indicating that many top leaders escaped before Arrowhead Ripper began appear to be mostly true. But other information suggests some AQI leaders are trapped just down the road from where I write. In addition to the seven men who were caught trying to escape while dressed as women, there is information that some AQI leaders remain trapped in a constricting cordon.

Senior Officer in the Iraqi 5th Division during meeting in Baqubah. The Iraqi Army in Baqubah is far more capable than the police.

For security reasons, the Iraqi Army (IA) was not included in the initial planning of Arrowhead Ripper, yet with each succeeding day the IA has taken a larger role in the unfolding attack. The Fifth Iraqi Army Division is considered an increasingly competent group of fighters, and from the limited scope of 5th IA that I personally witnessed, that judgment seems correct. The 5th is committed to battle. Whereas the Iraqi Army is coming into the fight, and playing increasingly critical roles, the local police force is less impressive.

On the night of the 23 June, for instance, a police checkpoint called in to say they were under heavy small-arms attack. The same checkpoint then called frantically saying they were under RPG attack. The next even more frantic call was about a mortar attack. Yet when a Shadow UAV and Apache helicopters were dispatched, they saw no activity in the immediate area. Colonel Steve Townsend, commander of 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, brought this up to a senior Iraqi officer at a meeting on Sunday the 24th, and the Iraqi officer answered with some disgust that those particular police panic at the sound of two shots, and that each member of that police detail needs two Humvees protecting them in order to feel safe.

Also on the 24th, while I accompanied LTC Fred Johnson at a downtown meeting regarding humanitarian assistance, local enemy fighters were attacking the Iraqi Army convoys each time they passed by, about 500 yards from the meeting. The sounds of battles sometimes echoed through the police hallways, yet the Iraqi police refused to respond. Two of Johnson’s men went up to the dangerous rooftop, and SSG Matt Hudgeon patiently waited for a shot on a man about 500 yards away who had been attacking IA convoys with RPGs. Hudgeon saw the man fire two rockets, and he kept trying to get crosshairs on the enemy. When he finally got a shot, Matt steadied his breathing, slowly exhaled and squeezed the trigger of his M-14. Bam! Matt’s bullet shot the man in the stomach, and the man rolled off the two-story roof, landing in the dust next to his RPG.

Iraqi police were called—they were all around us—to recover the body or at least the weapon, but one hour later when we went to lunch, the body was still on the ground near the RPG. Although we tried to get to the RPG later, we were in a hurry to get to a cache that had just been discovered by the Iraqi Army, and our Navy and Army were on it. An F-16 was about to drop a 500-pound bomb onto a house rigged with explosives 300 yards from us and the cache but the F-16 broke off to refuel. By then, we were heading to another meeting. The body and the RPG were abandoned.

There is much work to do here, especially if the Iraqi Police continue to perform below expectations. The absence of strong local leadership is a large part of the reason AQI was able to move in and set up a shadow government in Baqubah, complete with its own court system, torture house and prison. These three pegs of the AQI justice system have been found here in the past week. The judges who administer Sharia law and issue fatwas are called Muftis. A Mufti is a “high value target” because he would have deep connections in AQI in order to have such a trusted position of power.

Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) had tarnished its name here by publicly attacking and murdering children, videotaping beheadings, all while imposing harsh punishments on Iraqi civilians found guilty of violating morality laws prohibiting activities like smoking. The AQI installed Sharia court had sanctioned the amputation of the two “smoking fingers” for those who violated anti-smoking laws. In part because local sentiment was shifting against it, AQI synthesized with other groups and undertook an image makeover, christening itself “The Islamic State of Iraq.” But the new name was just lipstick on a pig here.

On the evening of the 24th I spoke with a local Iraqi official, Colonel Faik, who said the Muftis would order the severance of the two fingers used to hold a cigarette for any Iraqis caught smoking. Other reports, from here in Diyala and also in Anbar, allege that smokers are murdered by AQI. Most Iraqis smoke and this particular prohibition appeared to have earned the ire of many locals. After an American unit cleared an apartment complex on the 23rd, LTC Smiley, the battalion commander, reported that residents didn’t ask for food and water, but cigarettes. In other parts of Baqubah, people have been celebrating the routing of AQI by lighting up and smoking cigarettes.

Other AQI edicts included beatings for men who refused to grow beards, and corporal punishments for obscene sexual suggestiveness, defined by such “loose” behavior as carrying tomatoes and cucumbers in the same bag. These fatwas were not eagerly embraced by most Iraqis, and the taint traveled back to the Muftis who sat in supreme judgment. Locals, who are increasingly helpful in pointing out and celebrating the downfall of AQI here, said that during the initial Arrowhead Ripper attack the morning of the 19th, AQI murdered five men. Townsend’s men found the buried corpses behind an AQI prison, exactly where they’d been told to look for the group grave. Locals also directed Townsend’s men to a torture house. Peering through a window, American soldiers saw knives, swords, bindings and drills. AQI is well-known for its macabre eagerness to drill into kneecaps, elbows, ribs, skulls, and other parts of victims.

One local Mufti who was said to have always worn a hood and sunglasses—and to have somehow disguised his voice—was pointed out to the Iraqi Army this weekend, who promptly captured him. Iraqi officials said today that although they did not previously know that this man was a Mufti, his name had been on their target list. The Mufti is being questioned and his name has not been released.

Colonel Steve Townsend, commander of 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team in Baqubah, takes a break from the streets to conduct a commanders’ meeting.

Although the battle is still unfolding here in Baqubah, Colonel Townsend reports that at least 50 AQI have been killed. Townsend’s subordinate commanders put the number as high as 100. More than 60 suspects are in custody, but Townsend is unsure how many of the suspects are truly AQI versus innocent men who will be released.

American losses include one soldier killed in action, with 21 wounded. One Bradley and one Stryker have been destroyed. The low numbers of friendly casualties have been largely due to the slow, methodical clearing operation where success is not measured against the clock. In meeting after meeting, I have seen Townsend stress to his subordinate commanders the importance of moving deliberately and at their own pace. Given the massive amounts of IEDs that have been found, my guess is that we might have taken dozens more killed by now if the clearing operation had been rushed. Doubtless many American lives have been saved by locals just saying “stop,” and pointing to bombs.

Another part of the success is just plain luck. On Sunday for instance, soldiers entered a home filled with explosives, but somehow escaped without injury. About 15 houses and buildings have been found rigged to explode. The Air Force has helped by dropping bombs on some of the rigged homes, and MLRS missiles have been fired into others. Early on Sunday morning, before embarking on the mission, I was doing a rapid bit of bird photography with an ornithologist named Captain Pike, when an Apache helicopter shot 30mm cannon into a car bomb downtown. We did not see the attack, but a mushroom cloud billowed in the background as I was rushing to photograph a beautiful bee-catcher. (Iraq has fascinating array of birds, and when this war is over, I’m coming back with a long lens and a tripod.)

The fight goes on. Sunday, Colonel Townsend said he was considering bypassing one area where many if not most of the homes appear to be rigged to explode. He doesn’t want to level the whole neighborhood. Al Qaeda has hijacked people’s homes and businesses. To save his own soldiers’ lives, he’ll destroy what needs to be destroyed, but always mindful that most of the citizens of Baqubah did not volunteer to turn their homes into bombs. Townsend’s people have learned, after hard fighting and serious losses throughout Iraq, that the best counter-IED “technology” we have is just getting out of our fighting vehicles and talking with Iraqis. Although I have seen Iraqis do this, most cannot safely shout “stop” and point to IEDs while our soldiers are driving by. Surely we have many intractable enemies here, but the Iraqis have proven countless times that engagement works.

But the enemies who remain here keep on fighting. This weekend, while soldiers continued clearing Baqubah on foot, Townsend’s soldiers returned to an area they had just cleared. The squad leader spotted a vegetable can that had not been there minutes earlier. But it was too late: the vegetable can blew up, the squad went down from the blast, and the enemy started shooting. It was all in a day’s work here. All six of those soldiers are expected to return to duty by today, Monday.

It would be nice to wrap up this dispatch with a neat ending, but accuracy requires this ending be jagged. While typing these last few words, there have been explosions, gunfire, and the sounds of helicopters and jets. The fighting has decreased remarkably over the last few days, but the last pockets have not been cleared, and nobody knows what awaits. So the battle is on and it’s time to get back with the soldiers as they clear Baqubah inch by inch, street by street.