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August 08, 2006
Rumsfeld: Never Better
Cal Thomas highlights Donald Rumsfeld's testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week. Rumsfeld is known for plain speaking, but I don't think I've ever seen him hit the nail more directly on the head. Thomas:
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld reminded the panel that the United States and the free world are in a "global struggle against violent extremists." Rumsfeld's testimony bears reading and repeating to a large number of people who, in their quest for pleasure and personal peace, appear to lack the staying power required to defeat perhaps the greatest evil the world has ever faced.Taking note of the differences between the way the United States and terrorists fight, Rumsfeld said, "one side puts their men and women at risk in uniform and obeys the laws of war, while the other side uses them against us." We have seen that in the world's reaction to Guantanamo Bay prison and Abu Ghraib. Terrorists use torture and murder and no court of public opinion or judicial entity holds them accountable. The rare instance of abuse by American soldiers is punished.
Rumsfeld elaborated on the difference between the two sides: "One side does all it can to avoid civilian casualties, while the other side uses civilians as shields, and then skillfully orchestrates a public outcry when the other side accidentally kills civilians in their midst. One side is held to exacting standards of near perfection; the other side is held to no standards and no accountability at all."
Emphasis mine. Included, of course, on the side that "does all it can to avoid civilian casualties" is Israel, who has exercised extreme reticence in defending itself against the thousands of missiles Hizbollah has launched.
The double standard of ethics that Rumsfeld so pointedly illuminated seems to be entrenched worldwide, even among countries that have suffered tragic losses in the near past from similar fanaticism. It is a very, very depressing development.
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Comments
As if to illustrate, have a look at both the media coverage and results of the primary election in Connecticut. Just a handfull of years ago, a certain Senator from this state was to be the Vice President of the United States. Now, only because of support for the efforts abroad, the Dems have cast this man aside with yesterday's trash. The media has been covering this with extreme glee. All for what? Opposition to the current administration. All else be damned. That's a dangerous way to run the most powerful nation in the world.
Posted by: Floyd Yeah at August 9, 2006 12:44 PM
All for what? Opposition to the current administration. All else be damned. That's a dangerous way to run the most powerful nation in the world.
Well said, and pretty much what I told my wife today, verbatim. Thank God the terror plot was foiled; I hate to say it but it might wind up doing some good in it's failure.
Posted by: Jeff at August 11, 2006 11:09 PM
