An American civilian contractor was captured in Iraq and gruesomely beheaded on videotape. The beasts who did this said on the tape that it was in response to the prison abuses and that there would be more to come. So now what do we do?
Bush-supporters, like with 9/11, want to make sure that every last ounce of your outrage is directed toward either 9/11 or toward the murderers on this videotape. Believe me, such acts deserve outrage, but outrage is not a finite quantity. It is possible for one to deplore this horrible videotape yet still maintain a deep reservoir of outrage toward the idiots who got us into this war.
Apparently, though, if the actions of Iraqis are not front and center of every conversation you want to have about the war, you are unAmerican, according to Bush-supporters. The Republican mouthpiece known as James Inhofe, senator from Oklahoma, made a fool of himself yesterday by acting as though this prison scandal was just something a bunch of Democratic operatives ginned up to get Bush. You should follow that link to get a better understanding of the depth of the contempt this administration has for the average American.
Bush-supporters are pointing to this video and saying, "Look! See! We *told* you they were worse than us! What animals!" Well, yes, ok, the murderers who did this are, indeed, worse than probably all but the most horrific torturers (who also have an unknown body count to their credit, and who knows what's on video) on our side. But we need to remember that we're supposed to be the *good* guys here. We're supposed to have higher standards than the enemy. We're supposed to set an example for the world to follow. Hell, this was supposed to be some kind of humanitarian intervention, if you believe the after-the-fact justifications by Bush-supporters.
The bottom line is that the actions of the Iraqi murderers in this case are inexcusable, and we need to try to capture them. We could have captured them (they are a part of al Zarqawi, which has loose ties to al Qaeda) before the war, by the way, because we knew where they were, but Bush ignored them, not wanting to undercut his case for invading. But hey, ignore all that, you have to be outraged!
In the broader context, it is still a fact that this war was an enormous mistake, the costs of which will continue to mount over time. Liberals like me knew that ahead of time, and I think many conservatives did as well (but they weren't so vocal about it because they figured it was their guy in charge, so let's see what happens before we criticize). I guess I don't know what else to say that I haven't already said. I'm saddened and deflated by this pointless horror.
Posted by Observer at May 12, 2004 08:44 AMComments on entries can only be made in pop-up windows while those entries are still on the main index page. Sorry for the inconvenience this causes, but this blocks about 99.99% of the spam the blog receives.
Here's a good quote from Kevin Drum on this matter:
Barbaric behavior doesn't win wars, it just makes your enemies more dedicated to their cause. This is why it's so important to eliminate the kind of barbarism exhibited by our own side at Abu Ghraib: because it just makes our enemies stronger. If we don't purge it root and branch, we've as good as lost the war. In more ways than one.
Given that it seems to be a feature of the Middle Eastern cultures that they never forget an insult or injury, I think in a very important way we have already lost this war. These are the people who consider us responsible for the atrocities committed by the Christians in the First Crusade, over 800 years ago. We are not dealing with rational or forgiving people.
Posted by: Feff on May 12, 2004 06:12 PM