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June 24, 2005

Rove

By now, I'm sure you're aware of Karl Rove's comments that liberals wanted to give "therapy" and "understanding" to terrorists following 9/11, and that liberals are motivated by a desire to see our troops put in greater danger.

To paraphrase Atrios, if I wanted to see our troops put in greater danger, I'd send them into an unnecessary war, based on false pretenses, without adequate armour or manpower and no exit plan. I'd also challenge the enemy to "bring it on", declare the "mission accomplished" when it's nowhere near close, antagonize as many of our allies as possible and cut their health care benefits while they're at war. That should demoralize them but good, huh?

After the 9/11 attacks, I wanted to see us go after those who were truly responsible for those atrocities, and I supported, 100%, the war in Afghanistan. I still do - we're not done there yet, even though you never hear about it. But rather than finish the job there - rather than actually capture Osama bin Laden and put him out of business; rather than completely quash the Taliban; rather than help rebuild a stable and friendly Afghanistan that would no longer be a refuge for terrorists, the administration knocked the Taliban around for a bit (but left them in good enough shape that they now are back, fighting against us), let Osama slip through their fingers and then diverted manpower, money and other resources to Iraq - where, as Colin Powell had explained just a few months before - Saddam was well contained and no longer a threat to the US or even his neighbors.

In 2001, the administration said that we'd get Osama, and that anyone who wasn't with us was against us. They said that they would not only go after the terrorists, but also those nations who harbored them and gave them sanctuary. Last week, the new head of the CIA, Porter Goss, said that he has a very good idea of where Osama is, but that there are issues with "sovreignty" related to getting him, because of where he's being given sanctuary. What happened?

Yes, many liberals oppose the war in Iraq - not because we want to see our troops be put in even more danger, but because we realize they're in danger unnecessarily. We know that they don't have the body armour or armoured vehicles they need to be as safe as possible in a war zone. We know that the way we're conducting the war over there is helping create more "insurgents" every day. We know that our treatment of prisoners from Iraq and Afghanistan is inflaming the passions of our enemies. Believe me, when it comes to putting our troops in grave danger, the administration is doing a fine job all on its own.

And speaking of the prison's we're running, it's now being reported that the US has finally admited that prisoners ARE being tortured.

Washington has, for the first time, acknowledged to the United Nations that prisoners have been tortured at US detention centres in Guantanamo Bay, as well as Afghanistan and Iraq, a UN source said.

The acknowledgement was made in a report submitted to the UN Committee against Torture, said a member of the ten-person panel, speaking on on condition of anonymity.

'They are no longer trying to duck this and have respected their obligation to inform the UN,' the Committee member said.

'They they will have to explain themselves (to the Committee). Nothing should be kept in the dark,' he said.

UN sources said this is the first time the world body has received such a frank statement on torture from US authorities.

The Committee, which monitors respect for the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, is gathering information from the US ahead of hearings in May 2006.

[snip]

The document from Washington will not be formally made public until the hearings.

So, why then, is Uncle Karl blaming liberals for putting our soldiers in harm's way and saying that we're motivated by a desire to see them die? Because the only other thing he can do is admit that the administration lied about the need to attack Iraq, and that they've handled the war with complete, total and utter incompetence. And you KNOW that's not going to happen.

Posted by thorswitch at June 24, 2005 09:00 PM

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