So earlier today, President Bush confused questioning the intergrity of the reason why we went to war with not supporting the troops.
"As our troops fight a ruthless enemy determined to destroy our way of life, they deserve to know that their elected leaders who voted to send them to war continue to stand behind them," the president said. "Our troops deserve to know that this support will remain firm when the going gets tough. And our troops deserve to know that, whatever our differences in Washington, our will is strong, our nation is united and we will settle for nothing less than victory."
I fail to understand why the President continues to impugn the concept of freedom as his default response to any criticism levlled at his reasoning (lying) about going to war. Are we not fighting to bring freedom to the Iraqis, who were previously unable to criticize, let alone question, their "elected" leader?
How can this be the same man who said this: "Sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe -- because in the long run, stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty. As long as the Middle East remains a place where freedom does not flourish, it will remain a place of stagnation, resentment, and violence ready for export. And with the spread of weapons that can bring catastrophic harm to our country and to our friends, it would be reckless to accept the status quo... The advance of freedom is the calling of our time; it is the calling of our country. From the Fourteen Points to the Four Freedoms, to the Speech at Westminster, America has put our power at the service of principle. We believe that liberty is the design of nature; we believe that liberty is the direction of history. We believe that human fulfillment and excellence come in the responsible exercise of liberty. And we believe that freedom -- the freedom we prize -- is not for us alone, it is the right and the capacity of all mankind. -- George W. Bush
... I guess as long as it's not the liberty to ask why we lied our way into killing 2,050 American soliders and a "conveniently" uncounted thousands of Iraqis.
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This was published on slate.com today:
"It's not about who they are. It's about who we are."
So said Sen. John McCain, in defending his amendment to a defense appropriations bill that would bar U.S. officials from inflicting "cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment" on detainees in the war on terror. But while Sen. McCain is surely right that how we treat those in our custody ultimately reflects back on us, this debate is also very much about who "they" are. That's because the Bush administration's justification for employing "cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment" against certain individuals expressly turns on the fact that these individuals are foreign nationals held abroad. The coercive-interrogation policy is predicated on a double standard: According to the administration, we can do it to "them" because "they" are different from "us."
ME AGAIN: Color me ignorant, but I fail to understand how torture jives with liberty.
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But maybe this does:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says he is more concerned about the leak of information regarding secret CIA detention centers than activity in the prisons themselves. [Reported in an amazing story in the Washington Post early this month.]
Frist told reporters Thursday that while he believed illegal activity should not take place at detention centers, he believes the leak itself poses a greater threat to national security and is "not concerned about what goes on" behind the prison walls.
"My concern is with leaks of information that jeopardize your safety and security -- period," Frist said. "That is a legitimate concern."
ME DOING THE IRONIC CHEER: Yay! Liberty! Yay!
So in closing I'd say it's OK for your blood to be boiling. If it's not, make sure you're still alive and that you haven't grown a tail. But to ensure that your boiling blood doesn't melt your intellect and turn you into a former Dover, PA school board member, check out these two sites. The first is 3 reasons for liberals to be happy, that aren't related to Lewis Libby getting a new nickname.
http://www.slate.com/id/2127371/
and this one is a blog from Barack Obama. Wisdom from the Land of Lincoln.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/30/102745/165
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