LA Times/Marc Cooper
Soldier for the Truth: Exposing Bush’s talking-points war
My heroine Lieutenant Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski speaks to the LA Times.
Internet muse.
Daring, bold, never sold.
My daily weblog of politics, humor, philosophy...and a constant and nagging reminder of the existence of universal love....
Monday, February 23, 2004
Jesus Movies
With the frenzy over Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ', Sgt Stryker's Daily Briefing gives us an amusing rundownof on Jesus movies that came before....
With the frenzy over Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ', Sgt Stryker's Daily Briefing gives us an amusing rundown
The Vietnam Syndrome, Again
The mistake Democrats make when they compare Iraq to Vietnam.
By Christopher Hitchens
Whether or not President Bush showed up for guard duty, in the end, won't matter. We have already seen four years of his administration and know what we may expect from another four.
I think Christopher Hitchen's line here is 'right on target' regarding the issue of the President's limited service to the U.S. during the Viet Nam war:
How would I answer Mr. Hitchen's question:
I do not agree with Mr. Hitchens' oversimplification of matters by calling the Democrats' hailing (as heroes) of our Viet Nam soldiers as "creepy", nor do I come anywhere close to agreeing with Mr. Hitchens that the Democrats have, in any way, shape, or form "denigrated" the troops for their fine efforts in Iraq. The denigration, (if we wish to call it that), would stem from the policy of the Bush administration (from whom many believe there was no honest forthcoming about the reasons for war). Democrats urged the President, before the preventive Iraq war was launched, to carefully consider the available intelligence and the fullness of the rule of law in the international community. Apparently, their trust in the President to do so was shattered.
It's a 'no-brainer' that terrorists are the common enemies of humanity. I think Mr. Hitchens is a wonderful writer, but he either makes a mistake or he's being intellectually dishonest in lumping a discussion about our loyal and brave troops in Iraq with the foreign policy of the Bush administration itself.
The mistake Democrats make when they compare Iraq to Vietnam.
By Christopher Hitchens
"More than a quarter of a century after the collapse of the doomed American intervention in Indochina, we can't get over it. This is, in my opinion, as it should be."I do not like what's happening in Iraq, yet I agree that if we're going to criticize the Iraq war, we have to criticize the war based upon its own failings and not that of Viet Nam.
--Christopher Hitchens 2-16-04
Whether or not President Bush showed up for guard duty, in the end, won't matter. We have already seen four years of his administration and know what we may expect from another four.
I think Christopher Hitchen's line here is 'right on target' regarding the issue of the President's limited service to the U.S. during the Viet Nam war:
"Bush evidently did the gentlemanly minimum."Indeed. Current Democratic front-runner John Kerry went to battle not only for one tour of duty, but two. As the Pope said about the Mel Gibson movie "The Passion", "it is as it was".
How would I answer Mr. Hitchen's question:
"...some Democrats really seem to want to act hawkier than thou. Are they so sure that this is a bright idea?"Answer: Why not? "It is as it was." The Viet Nam war (and the anti-war movement it sparked) is settled history now (though still unsettling) and I think we're mature enough here in America to talk about it and sort through the shades of gray.
I do not agree with Mr. Hitchens' oversimplification of matters by calling the Democrats' hailing (as heroes) of our Viet Nam soldiers as "creepy", nor do I come anywhere close to agreeing with Mr. Hitchens that the Democrats have, in any way, shape, or form "denigrated" the troops for their fine efforts in Iraq. The denigration, (if we wish to call it that), would stem from the policy of the Bush administration (from whom many believe there was no honest forthcoming about the reasons for war). Democrats urged the President, before the preventive Iraq war was launched, to carefully consider the available intelligence and the fullness of the rule of law in the international community. Apparently, their trust in the President to do so was shattered.
It's a 'no-brainer' that terrorists are the common enemies of humanity. I think Mr. Hitchens is a wonderful writer, but he either makes a mistake or he's being intellectually dishonest in lumping a discussion about our loyal and brave troops in Iraq with the foreign policy of the Bush administration itself.
Daniel Ellsberg urges individuals inside government to produce Pentagon papers
"....just as Senators Byrd and Kennedy, the only two remaining in the Senate who voted for the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, learned from an error they have regretted for almost 40 years and tried to warn their current colleagues against repeating it last fall, so can insiders such as I once was do better than I did then. Individuals inside government, from low-level clerks to Cabinet members, have the power -- to be sure, at the risk of their careers -- to tell the truth. There are surely drawers full of documents in Washington right now -- the Pentagon Papers of Iraq -- that, if leaked in bulk, would drastically alter the public discourse on whether we should have sent our children to kill and to die in Iraq, and more urgently, whether we should continue to do so.
I urge patriotic and conscientious Americans who have access to these documents, and who know it is wrong for their bosses to lie to the public about why we are in this war, to consider doing what I wish I had done in 1964 or early 1965, years earlier than I did: Go to Congress and the press; tell the truth, with documents. The personal risks are real, but a war's worth of lives are at stake..."
[Boston Globe 2-22-04]
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