Dept. of Irony
Jun 21st, 2006 at 6:40 am by Susie
We have twisted, turned, contorted and outright ignored the Geneva Convention in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military leaders warned us that flouting the rules would put our soldiers at incredible risk, and we’re seeing the horrible fruits of that now.
It’s a little thing called “cause and effect,” and the NY Daily News would prefer not to think about it. It’s somehow easier to blame those of us who tried to stop this insanity:
Pointless it is to explain to Al Qaeda that when you catch two soldiers, they’re prisoners of war, entitled to Geneva Convention specificities. The deaths of Menchaca and Tucker are “a reminder that this is a brutal enemy that does not follow any of the rules,” the White House said, sorrowfully stating the obvious. Regardless, it’s already a given that some of the European leaders President Bush will be meeting with these next few days would sooner blubber over all those poor detainees in Guantanamo, suffering so, rather than decry the fates of Menchaca and Tucker.
I had the misfortune of listening to part of Rush Limbaugh’s show yesterday (it was playing in a store and before I took my money and left, I heard a good five minutes of his show.) This was one of his central points: Where are the human rights organizations when our enemies perform inhumanely?
My immediate thoughts were:
1) What a low bar we have set for ourselves. The worst of our enemies perform horrific acts of torture and violence, so it is OK for us? “At least we didn’t cut anyone’s head off!”
2) How stupid is it to compare the citizens of a democracy applying pressure to their own democratic government and those same citizens applying pressure to a disorganized band of thugs and cuthroats? Who makes the laws for Al Qaeda? How do you even petition those people? Our military seems incapable of bending Al Qaeda to its will, but straw-liberals are supposed to be starting a letter-writing or lobbying campaign against them?
3) What a beacon of Enlightenment and democratic values we are beaming around the world. Look! We are willing to throw our deepest ideals into the trash if it means we can look tough.
When did Yoda start writing edits for the NY Daily News?