Shot In The Dark: Priorities

June 16, 2005

Priorities

Luke Francl at New Patriot responded to my response to his latest whack at the war.

So much to respond to - and I might even find time to do it, maybe.

But events of the past day or so make his closing statement doubly ironic:

Conservatives combine a toxic mixture of historical blindness and unlimited faith in their leaders. [Conservatism is all about strictly limited faith in leaders; the "historical blindness" crack is going to look mighty ironic in a few minutes; bear with us, here - Ed.] Mitch and his pals at Power Line show this to a fault. No amount of evidence (or lack of evidence) will ever convince them they were wrong about Iraq. [We could say the opposite with equal certainty - Ed.]...No, they'll blame liberals. Because we didn't clap hard enough.

I'd personally like to keep things out of the realm of partisan pissing matches. Some of my best friends are liberals who are good Americans. Some of my favorite interview guests and blog subjects are liberals who can see through the lefty shibboleths about the war.

But in fact, if any "blaming" of "liberals" is to be done, it'll have less to do with clapping than with the fact that too many of them were on the wrong side.

Let's talk Dick Durbin for a while.

Dick Durbin is one of the ranking Democrats in Congress. He's not the brightest light on the Christmas tree - last week he claimed the media was operating at the service of the right-wing for mentioning Howard Dean's outbursts of lunacy. It's not over.

Via Taranto, this is what he had to say about Guantanamo:

If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime--Pol Pot or others--that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.

Indeed?

Urine - probably accidental, at that - on a Koran?

Making detainees - who had been captured, let us not forget, in combat against American troops in the field, and of whom the vast majority's terrorist ties have been confirmed - endure social pressure, making them feel squeamish in the presence of women? Subjecting them to interrogation techniques not a whole lot more intrusive than what police are allowed to do to interview subjects in the US?

Compared to this?

Or this?

How about...?

Do I need to go on?

(Remembmer - it's conservatives who don't remember history. Got it?)

Taranto puts it well:

We are fighting an enemy that murdered 3,000 innocent people on American soil 3 1/2 years ago and would murder millions more if given the chance--and according to Dick Durbin, our soldiers are the Nazis.

From Democrat Underground - which has claims at least to being the fringe - you could expect this.

From Michael Moore - who's mainstream but a particularly ugly branch of it - certainly.

So you want to claim that Dick Durbin is the fringe of the Democrat party?

Now, I did say that "too many liberals are on the wrong side", right?

Yep, I did. Comparing our troops with Nazis and the NKVD plays directly into the hands of those who fight against democracy in the Middle East; it gives them the same aid and comfort that Hanoi Jane gave the North Vietnamese when she posed at the seat of their antiaircraft guns and solemnly proclaimed that there was no evidence that POWs were tortured.

Whatever you think about the war, Durbin has slandered every single person in uniform.

UPDATE: Yep, I know - it's "Durbin", not "Durban". I just finished reading a very long book about the Boer War. I have Durban (D'Urban) on the brain.

Posted by Mitch at June 16, 2005 06:26 AM | TrackBack

Comments

I love this line of Francl’s:

“No civilian body count will ever convince them that it was wrong to overthrow a horrible, but stable, dictatorship that was not a threat to us.”

Defeating Germany cost 2 million German civilian lives. Do you think maybe we shoulda worked out a deal instead, Luke?

Apparently, it doesn’t matter how horrible tyranny is, as long as it is stable and and the regime isn’t causing us any inconvience. If people are oppressed we don’t care, unless we can use their misfortune to effect domestic politics. Classic liberal compassion. The left’s comfort level with brutality is pretty scary.

Posted by: rick at June 16, 2005 09:05 AM

Source links?

Posted by: Chuck Olsen at June 16, 2005 09:39 AM

Francl is purely a reactionary, which is the predominant foreign policy paradigm of the Democratic Party. The status quo in the Persian Gulf prior to the Iraq invasion was what bred the attack on the World Trade Center, and the pursuit of the maintainence of that status quo was nearly certain to lead to a bloodbath of WWII proportions. There is a chance now that this may be avoided, although a great deal of good fortune will still be needed. It remains an open question whether changes in Iraq can be used to affect changes throughout the region. It is lamentable, however, that the fatuous notion that the pursuit of "stability" would have led to anything other than corpses stacked to the horizon, still is given serious consideration.

As to other nonsense bandied about, especially in regards to how the captured enemy have been treated in this conflict, in compariosn to past conflicts, remember this: THE 20th century icon of the Democratic Party had American citizens tried by military tribunal, sentenced to death, and executed, after quietly informing the Supreme Court that said executions were going to be carried out regardless of how the Court ruled on the condemneds' appeals, so the Court would be well advised to consider it's future legitimacy when considering said appeals. The next time you hear an FDR-lionizing Democrat (and I do think FDR was a great President) rail against the misdeeds of this wartime President, ignore their blather. They simply are not serious.

Posted by: Will Allen at June 16, 2005 09:57 AM

Gah, I needed coffee this morning.

Links added...

Posted by: mitch at June 16, 2005 10:53 AM

I fully expect that Senator Durbin will express his outrage at the likely fate of these prisoners anytime now:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L16566623.htm

Not.

Posted by: Dave E at June 16, 2005 02:14 PM

(thanks for the links!)

"On another occasion,
not only was the temperature unbearably
hot, but extremely loud rap music was being
played in the room, and had been since the
day before, with the detainee chained hand
and foot in the fetal position on the tile
floor."

I think another key difference is being overlooked here, Mitch. Rap music. The rap music didn't exist in WWII-era. But if it did, I guarantee you the Nazis would have showed no restraint in dropping phat beats and killa rhymez.

Okay, joking aside, and Luke aside, Durbin's statement is hyperbole. And it looks like the White House is admonoshing him for it. But the administration is guilty of hyperbole too, trotting out a big plate full of delicious fruits and noodles and things - some idealized "Guantanamo menu" and saying "this is torture?" Right, and I suppose they have massage therapy on Tuesdays. There's a simple and just solution to defending Gitmo, and it's rolling out plates of food for the cameras thousands of miles away. It's letting independent human rights observers in there to see what's going on. If there's nothing to hide, what's the problem?

Posted by: Chuck Olsen at June 16, 2005 03:40 PM

Oops.... I meant to say, "There's a simple and just solution to defending Gitmo, and it's NOT rolling out plates of food for the cameras thousands of miles away. "

Posted by: Chuck Olsen at June 16, 2005 03:42 PM

There IS a simple solution. Start following the Geneva Convention to the letter, and execute terrorists caught in the field after summary court martials.

Posted by: Josh at June 16, 2005 04:17 PM

"There's a simple and just solution to defending Gitmo.... It's letting independent human rights observers in there to see what's going on."

You mean in addition to the Red Cross observers, more than one hundred senators and congress critters, and many journalists? Who, exactly, would fit your definition of "independent human rights observers"? The place is the most independently observed prisoner camp in the history of warfare.

Posted by: Doug Sundseth at June 16, 2005 05:11 PM

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