There are a number of inherent conflicts in Bush administration policy on terror. Perhaps the simplest conflict for this group advocating preemptive war and torture is this.
1. There are evil doers in the world who are willing to kill or hurt innocent people in the pursuit of their goals.
2. It is so important to stop these people that one should not hesitate to kill or hurt innocent people in the pursuit of these evil doers.
It rather reminds me of the bumper sticker I once saw: all violent people should be shot.
7 comments:
I'm pretty sure this post would leave W scratching his head.
We count and report our war dead, but the counting isn't done unless we include everyone who has died. The numbers I've seen are staggering, and I don't think anyone knows for sure what the real number is.
Part of the problem is that nobody is willing to admit that for a long time America has been the bad guy in the Middle East. There are people who sincerely believe that Muslims are just inherently evil, and they hate us because we're so good and pure.
Meanwhile, the most expensive army on earth is being fought to a standstill by people who dress in rags and live in caves. It's kind of like Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed. It's been a long time and I forget- who won that one?
Jennifer,
I wonder if George scratches his head. I sometimes think that he has two reactions to new ideas and data: nods because it confirms his preconceptions or ignores it if it does not.
Thomas,
I do not like the Rocky and Apollo example - I remember something about a desire for a rematch and sequels that extended into the next century.
I didn't check to see what you blogged yesterday, but I see a similarity in some of our thougts.
You think?
Head in the sand, toes in the surf...I haven't been blogging or following the news much lately but I don't think I'm missing much - our established government continues to find ways to justify violence, a simple trick that involves placing greater value on one nation's population over another AND our government hopefuls continue to spew politically benign B.S. in the hopes that will have to say nothing, in that hopes that they can avoid offending anyone on the way in to November. So it's just as well that I've hung up my political interests for the summer, there's just nothing new to get interested in!
Ron, what would have been your reaction to this morning's report of Iran's missile test launch? Or last month's test flights by Israel? A lot of posturing on both sides...let's hope all the posing doesn't get out of hand.
nunya,
I think that it is called outrage and I'm glad that someone still shares a sense of it with me. Thanks.
cce,
politically benign bs? You could probably work on that topic for a dissertation.
Suzanne,
It seems to me that if we attack Iran we'll not just replicate the Iraq mess but we'll prove to evil doers everywhere that they really do need seriously dangerous WMD in order to keep us at bay.
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