Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Inquiring Minds Want To Know

No, it's not the tabloid report again, although the tabs are almost irresistible. The other day, the Weekly World News reported that Mrs. Clinton has chosen Bigfoot as her running mate. What inquiring minds, or at least this one, want to know today concerns the WaPo's op-ed from Liz Cheney, the Vice President's daughter, in today's edition. Ms. Cheney informs us that there is no substitute for victory in Iraq and that we must see this through, stay the course if you will. Soldiers must have their fetters removed and be allowed to fight and win, we are fighting "terrorists" there in iraq, undifferentiated, and we must defeat all of them lest moderate forces elsewhere lose heart and momentum. Which both astonishes me and leads me to ask,

Why did the Washington Post, a serious newspaper, see fit to publish this nonsense, which is the same nonsense that was peddled at the beginning of this war? There is overwhelming evidence that these lines of reasoning are bankrupt. Why is this being offered to the public AGAIN?

How did Liz Cheney qualify to be a deputy assistant Secretary of State for Near East affairs? She's a garden-variety international lawyer, to judge from her bios. Her background indicates no particular expertise in history, culture or politics of the region, and i seriously doubt she has any of the relevant languages. Is the Department of State now a completely political department?

How is it that these people are saying the same inane things now as then? It's perfectly clear to everyone else that Iraq is in the grips of violent sectarian war, that there are about five different conflicts wracking the country, that it is just nonsensical to assert that this is some kind of apocalyptic democracy vs. dictatorship, goodies vs. baddies struggle? Are they living in a parallel universe, or have they been smoking controlled substances?

Can you impeach government officials for stupidity and wilfull imperviousness to facts?

Inquiring minds want to know. They also think we are all in a lot of trouble if the people in the White House share this "viewpoint."

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

You're stronger than I am. I read the first two sentences and just tossed the paper aside. For the same reason I won't be watching Bush's status speech tonight. There isn't enough blood pressure medicine in the world to save me from such a fate. So I'll do what I always do - read the speech the next day. Much better for at least part of my sanity.

4:05 PM  
Blogger jodmeister said...

Did you read Howard Kurtz's live discussion on Chaney's article? I didn't read specific comments but it sounded to me that many shared your thinking.

Now, a shameless plug for my favorite political cartoonist at the Seattle PI, David Horsey. I tried to create a link but I can't since I'm not a contributor I guess. Maybe I can link on the other one. Anyway, check it out.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/horsey/viewbydate.asp?id=1534

4:07 PM  

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