US Foreign Policy

Representing America

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Mark Danner writes in the New York Review of Books:

What is clear is that the Abu Ghraib photographs and the terrible story they tell have done great damage to what was left of America’s moral power in the world, and thus its power to inspire hope rather than hatred among Muslims. The photographs “do not represent America,” or so the President asserts, and we nod our heads and agree. But what exactly does this mean?
I agree that the photographs do not represent America but what has become abundantly clear is that the photographs do represent the bush administration (article is from the Wall Street Journal ($)):
Bush administration lawyers contended last year that the president wasn’t bound by laws prohibiting torture and that government agents who might torture prisoners at his direction couldn’t be prosecuted by the Justice Department.
For more details see Bilmon, Phillip Carter, and Kevin Drum who states the issue clearly:
The United States has fought many wars over the past half century, and in each of them our causes were just as important as today’s, information from prisoners would have been just as helpful, and we were every bit as determined to win as we are now. But we still didn’t authorize torture of prisoners. FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, LBJ, Reagan � all of them knew it wasn’t right, and the rest of us knew it as well.
So what’s different this time? Only one thing: the name of the man in the White House. Under this administration, we seem to have lost the simple level of moral clarity that allowed our predecessors to tell right from wrong.
Do we really have to wait for an election to toss these people out of office?
That congress has not initiated action to do so suggests that a majority of these folks have also lost their moral compass and should be booted out as well.

rumsfeld tells it like it is

This entry was posted in bush Election 2004 US Foreign Policy War on Terrorism World Affairs on by

rumsfeld says:

The troubling unknown, he said, is whether the extremists — whom he termed ”zealots and despots” bent on destroying the global system of nation-states — are turning out newly trained terrorists faster than the United States can capture or kill them.
”It’s quite clear to me that we do not have a coherent approach to this,” Rumsfeld said at an international security conference.
His remarks showed a level of concern about the long-term direction of the U.S.-led global fight against terrorism that Rumsfeld rarely addresses in public.
His remarks also elicited commentary:
Digby:
Should we put this quote on every campaign web-site, bumper sticker and campaign commercial going forward?
Heavens, yes.
The Poor Man:
The Bush Administration appears to be in the grips of irrational Bush-hatred
Brad Delong:
If even Donald Rumsfeld believes that Al Qaeda is growing stronger, who is left to defend the Bush administration’s conduct of the War on Terror?
Oliver Willis
The Failure Of Donald Rumsfeld
I can’t believe he said this.
Rumsfeld fears U.S. losing long-term fight against terror
Pessimist at The Left Coaster at the end of a long commentary:
It’s time for another regime change. Here in the United States of America. This November if not sooner.
Stageleft:
An interesting phrase given who he works for….. anything less than complete confidence and unswerving loyalty to the administration line isn’t high on the top 10 list of ways to get yourself invited to a certain ranch in Texas.
Yep, rummie should have resigned when he had the chance.