And while I'm at it, Andrew speaks to why this Libby commutation makes me a lot angrier than it otherwise would have: it comes in the context of a presidency run by people who, on evidence, believe that accountability -- to the law, to standards of competence, to standards of morality -- is something for other people. Andrew:
Tell the American people the core narrative of this monarchical presidency: this president believes he is above the law in wiretapping citizens with no court oversight; he has innovated an explosive use of signing statements to declare himself above the law on a bewildering array of other matters, large and small; he has unilaterally declared himself above American law, international law, and U.N. Treaty obligations in secretly authorizing torture; he has claimed the right to seize anyone in the United States, detain them indefinitely without trial and torture them; his vice-president refuses to abide by the law that mandates securing classified documents; and when a court of law finds a friend of the president's guilty, he commutes the sentence.
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And thank-you George Bush. I look forward to 8 years of a Democrat in the White House. (P.S. Bill Clinton gets impeached over lies concerning Monica "close but no cigar" Lewinsky, and what does Bush get for his usurping of the law, (in so many ways)? Nada.)
Remember in November 2008, to send a message that gets heard around the world. Maybe, just maybe the damage of this administration can be mitigated with a decade or two of competent and honourable political leaders. And while you're thinking about this, remember which party drove the national debt through the ceiling. Big hint: It wasn't the tax and spend Democrats. And the GOP that bastion of liberty-loving protectors of the rights of the individual, is the biggest, big brother the U.S. has ever seen. Love 'em or leave 'em, and personally I say leave 'em.
I leave you with this quote from the Apocalypse Now,
" KURTZ
Have you ever considered, any real
freedoms? Freedoms from the
opinions of others. Even the
opinions of yourself. Did they
say why, Willard? Why they wanted
to terminate my command?
WILLARD
I was sent on a classified mission,
sir.
KURTZ
Its no longer classified, is it.
What did they tell you?
WILLARD
They told me, that you had
gone...totally insane. And that
your methods were unsound.
KURTZ
Are my methods unsound?
WILLARD
I don't see any method at all,
sir."
And I don't see any method at all, but I do see an out of control administration, and hope that after this one, the American people never get another one quite like it.
*** This post advocates only legal methods of administration change, so don't think my quote from Apocalypse Now implies anything other than that. I hope GWB lives a long and healthy life.
The idea of Hillary Clinton, who invoked "I don't recall" 46 times before a granfd jury being remotely upset is bordering on a joke. But Amiericans love 2nd acts.
Want to talk "Apocalpyse", I give you this. In essnece, either understand that war is a filthy business to be undertaken as a last resort with ill humor and a ahrd heart, or don't bother. the guys who firebombed Dresden and nuked Hiroshima weren't worried about hearts and minds. The failure of Bush is to understand there's no polite way to do this, and to pretend othewise is folly.
"It's impossible for words... to describe... what is necessary... to those... who do not know... what horror means. Horror. Horror has a face. And you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror... are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies. I remember when I was with Special Forces. Seems a thousand centuries ago. We went into a camp to inoculate... some children. We'd left the camp... after we had inoculated the children for polio. And this old man came running after us, and he was crying. He couldn't say. We went back there... and they had come and hacked off... every inoculated arm. There they were, in a pile-- a pile of... little arms. And I remember... I-I-- I cried. I wept like... some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out. I didn't know what I wanted to do. And I want to remember it. I never want to forget it. I never want to forget. And then I realized... like I was shot-- like I was shot with a diamond-- a diamond bullet right through my forehead. And I thought, 'My God, the genius of that. The genius.' The will to do that. Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And then I realized... they were stronger than me because they could stand it. These were not monsters. These were men-- trained cadres. These men who fought with their hearts... who have families, who have children... who are filled with love... that they had the strength-- the strength... to do that. If I had ten divisions of those men... then our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men... who are moral... and at the same time... who are able to... utilize their... primordial instincts to kill... without feeling, without passion... without judgment-- without judgment. Because it’s judgment that defeats us. I worry that my son... might not understand what I've tried to be. And if I were to be killed, Willard... I would want someone to go to my home... and tell my son everything. Everything I did.
I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a strait razor. That's my dream. It's my nightmare. Crawling, slithering along the edge of a strait razor... and surviving... But we must kill them. We must incinerate them. Pig after pig. Cow after cow. Village after village. Army after army. And they call me an assassin. What do you call it when the assassins accuse the assassin? They lie. They lie, and we have to be mericful for those who lie. Those nabobs. I hate them; I do hate them."
My God Bugg, I am glad those sentiments did not prevail during the Cuban Missile crisis or you and I would not be here having this oh so pleasant conversation.
And a final quote which falls in line with what you state is from Papal legate Arnaud-Amaury who upon being asked by a Crusader how to distinguish between Cathars and Catholics at the slaughter of Béziers said: "Caedite eos! Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius" — "Kill them [all]! Surely the Lord discerns which [ones] are his."
My point isn't we should have an army of Colonel Kurtzes. Simply that Bush should have considered that war is a last resort because it requires men to do things beyond themselves. Things which are last resorts because they are extreme. Again, we all get the "Greatest Generation" speech, but there were eff ups all around, and as above, they didn't play games or gnash teeth.
Understand our military heritage. We were founded by guys who blew English heads off because their breakfast beverage of choice was to them unduly taxed. We had Sherman marching through Georgia with serious bad intent. Read or watch anything about Iwo Jima or the Battle of the Bulge or the Chosin resevoir or Khe San or Tet. Wars are not won by worrying about whtehr your enemy has been offended, but by killing him.
That Bush undertook this with some seriously loopy ideas is what scares me most.We got LBJ II. We have to see that war shouldn't be taken lightly. If we're going in, we're going to hurt a whole bunch of people. And somehwere between Panama and Grenada and Gulf War I, the idea that you could get away with a bloodless war took hold. And that our military should act as combo caterers/social workers/ward healers-missions they have no business doing -also took hold. That all must end once and for all.
Simply as it's being fought-if you could call it "fought", with IEDs killing patrols on undefended roads ,mosques being used with impunity, people calling JAGs before defending themselves-this war is an abomination.
"I don't see any method at all, sir."
Doesn't that sound like the Bush administration planning for Iraq after the invasion?
In fact, the State Department did consult with experts and prepare a plan, which apparently Cheney and the neoconservatives didn't even bother to read.
Thanks Zero-Equals-Infinity for posting that dialogue.
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