I’ve cross-posted here rarely of late. Bunch of reasons. My own site tends to have two kinds of posts: a) political stuff, and b) my own pet joys in life, things like cricket and very tiny Chilean deer. The latter set doesn’t seem appropriate here — you guys are here for penguins, after all, not pudus — and often when I’ve written something newsier, dang if one or more of the perceptive folks over here hasn’t usually beaten me to it, usually saying it better and shorter than I would have.
But the other day, while ranting about the emergence of death squads in Iraq under America’s watch, I blew off steam in a way that a bunch of readers seem to have liked. Quoting myself is kinda gross, so I’m reluctant and beg forgiveness. But I’ve gotten enough email that I’m thinking maybe I should at least share the last half of this post with the class:
Still, one last aside. To those who repeat the current GOP spin that opponents of the war are motivated by a hatred of Bush or a desire to see America disgraced, I would like to respond.
I can speak for no one else, but it seems obvious to me that it is the war which disgraces America. It is the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people which disgraces America. It is torture which disgraces America. It is imprisonment without trial which disgraces America. It is the use of chemical weapons which disgraces America. It is disdain for international law, the use of military power as a first resort, the intentional confusion of the Iraqi people with terrorists thousands of miles away in Afghanistan, and the corruption of the very word “democracy” which all disgrace America.
As an opponent of the war, I am trying to stop my country from being disgraced any further.
As to hatred, yes, I will confess: I hate the actions of everyone involved — including Bush and his entire team, who are obviously most responsible, but also including plenty of Democrats (Biden, Lieberman, Clinton, etc.) — in creating the current fiasco. My anger and disgust extends even more intensely to the actions of murderous extremists on all sides — like, say, these death squads, for example — but as they are not elected officials representing and theoretically accountable to the very public which reads this blog, I rarely go into much detail on the point.
I would also eagerly forgive anyone able to admit that what they have done is wrong. I forgive John Murtha. I forgive Walter Jones. I forgive John Edwards. Forgiveness is, after all, one of the most important things we can offer.
I could be wrong, but I also believe the majority of humanity would agree.
To my mind, there’s not a single word there that isn’t screamingly obvious. And it has all been said a thousand times before, much better, by others.
Still, knowing the way the internet works, I half-expect to see those words flying around in an email. Probably credited to someone else entirely. Possibly Dick Cheney.
This would be fine with me.
