Sometimes the Truth Hurts
posted by Bathus
Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers.
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I would hope Mr. Secretary that you and other members of the administration would immediately repudiate such an insulting comment from such a high ranking official [Karl Rove] in the President's inner circle.
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We’ve got to ask, why is this man [bin Laden] so popular around the world? Why are people so supportive of him in many countries that are riddled with poverty? He’s been out in these countries for decades, building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day-care facilities, building health-care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful. We haven’t done that. How would they look at us today if we had been there helping them with some of that rather than just being the people who are going to bomb in Iraq and go to Afghanistan?
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The war on terror . . . is occasionally military . . . . But it's primarily an intelligence and law enforcement operation that requires cooperation around the world -- the very thing this administration is worst at. And most importantly, the war on terror is also an engagement in the Middle East economically, socially, culturally, in a way that we haven't embraced, because otherwise we're inviting a clash of civilizations.
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I've resisted pronouncing a sentence before guilt is found. I still have this old-fashioned notion that even with people like Osama, who is very likely to be found guilty, we should do our best not to, in positions of executive power, not to prejudge jury trials. . . . it's best to say that the full range of penalties should be available. But it's not so great to prejudge the judicial system.
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I think Karl was very specific, very accurate, in who he was pointing out.
I would hope Mr. Secretary that you and other members of the administration would immediately repudiate such an insulting comment from such a high ranking official [Karl Rove] in the President's inner circle.
We’ve got to ask, why is this man [bin Laden] so popular around the world? Why are people so supportive of him in many countries that are riddled with poverty? He’s been out in these countries for decades, building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day-care facilities, building health-care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful. We haven’t done that. How would they look at us today if we had been there helping them with some of that rather than just being the people who are going to bomb in Iraq and go to Afghanistan?
The war on terror . . . is occasionally military . . . . But it's primarily an intelligence and law enforcement operation that requires cooperation around the world -- the very thing this administration is worst at. And most importantly, the war on terror is also an engagement in the Middle East economically, socially, culturally, in a way that we haven't embraced, because otherwise we're inviting a clash of civilizations.
I've resisted pronouncing a sentence before guilt is found. I still have this old-fashioned notion that even with people like Osama, who is very likely to be found guilty, we should do our best not to, in positions of executive power, not to prejudge jury trials. . . . it's best to say that the full range of penalties should be available. But it's not so great to prejudge the judicial system.
I think Karl was very specific, very accurate, in who he was pointing out.
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Anonymous said...
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Bathus said...
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<< Homegood to know that my onion counts.
4:40 PM, June 27, 2005i was worried it didn't.
Dear la bona,
11:22 AM, June 28, 2005Thanks for the invitation, which I cannot accept.
Except to the extent that I have "dispensed" my thoughts on abortion elsewhere (e.g., here and here), I prefer to "play God" and keep my "onions" to myself.