Head... Hurting...
I should know better than to follow a link on the name Rumsfeld, or I too will end up with headaches.
Rumsfeld alluded to critics of the Bush administration’s war policies in terms associated with the failure to stop Nazism in the 1930s, “a time when a certain amount of cynicism and moral confusion set in among the Western democracies.” ¶ Without explicitly citing Bush critics at home or abroad, he said “it is apparent that many have still not learned history’s lessons.” Aides to Rumsfeld said later he was not accusing the administration’s critics of trying to appease the terrorists but was cautioning against a repeat of errors made in earlier eras.
Appeasing an expansionary fascist dictatorship. Yep, that’s exactly what’s going on. Right. And untangling his aides’ ass-covering is even more head-hurting: he isn’t accusing his critics of appeasement but is warning against repeating past errors which happen to go under the heading of appeasement. And if you buy that, I’ve got a staircase to sell you designed by one M.C. Escher.
I really shouldn’t have kept reading:
He said, for example, that more media attention was given to U.S. soldiers’ abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib than to the fact that Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith received the Medal of Honor.
Funny, too, how more U.S. government attention is being given to Iran’s nuclear programme than to the fact that Shirin Ebadi received the Nobel Peace Prize. We all know that good news cancels out bad... puppies! Hey, everyone loves puppies. And thousands are born in America every day.
But let’s hear about Sgt. Smith; he sounds like a good guy. Oh... he was killed in Iraq. I’m not sure that’s such good news. But he died honourably, at least. And Abu Ghraib happened years ago. Three whole years ago. Surely there’s a statute of limitations on dishonour? Whereas Sgt. Smith was killed only a few years ago. (Three, to be exact.)
But hey, Don’s got a point. Why aren’t the media reporting more of these honourable deaths? There have been so many. And all those funerals held to honour them back in the States—why aren’t they reporting those?