Honor?
Dick Cheney, visiting Japan, talked about Iraq. Now, if you wanted to send a goodwill ambassador or envoy of goodwill, you got the wrong guy. In fact, he's not even meeting with the Japanese Defense Minister. How warmongering do you have to be to not meet with a Defense Minister because he thinks you're too warlike?
But Dick went to talk more to our 50,000 or so troops still there. And his message was as clear as it was chilling: "peace with honor."
TOKYO (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney said on Wednesday the United States wants to finish its mission in Iraq and "return with honor", despite the war's growing unpopularity at home and doubts among U.S. allies.
So that's really what we're waiting for - some sort of arrangement where we can get out and retain some modicum of "honor." No worries about throwing away the lives of Americans and Iraqis, no thought to the vast tons of treasure - tax dollars - being burned, or the ruinous effect of the war on America;'s standing in the world.
Now, where have I heard that before? Hmmm?
How about here:
Good evening. I have asked for this radio and television time tonight for the purpose of announcing that we today have concluded an agreement to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia.
Sound familiar? That was another Tricky Dick - Nixon. In 1973, announcing the end to US involvement in Vietnam. He and the once and future American Machiavelli, Hank Kissinger, accepted the peace that they knew was inevitable years before. We now know that they were sure South Vietnam would collapse, and only wanted a "decent interval" between our withdrawal and the end of the misbegotten US puppet regime in Saigon.
So we're now into the phase where we wait until we can declare victory and get out as fast as humanly possible. The choppers are warming up in the Green Zone to get the VIP's gone before the rabble rushes the roof.
Tony Blair is way ahead of us, announcing British troop withdrawals starting, like, now. A day late and a pound short, but still way ahead of the neocon warmongers on this side of the pond.
Cheney had more to say:
"We know that terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength, they are invited by the perception of weakness," Cheney said in a speech aboard the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier at Yokosuka Navy Base near Tokyo.
As I've said before, real strength is based on smarts as much as muscle. Cheney and his ilk, like he and his ilk in 1973, only see that they're killing a lot of people. To them, that's strength. To the rest of the world, it's a clear sign of weakness. We are too dumb to bring about the political reconciliation that will result in real peace. We try to answer political questions with more bullets and bombs.
And that's just dumb.
Like in Vietnam, we're creating new insurgents (read: Vietcong) every day by our ham handed and oppressive policies. And just like in Vietnam, we just can't kill that many people. When we blow up an insurgent, we make lethal enemies of his whole family, village, and coreligionists. And they won't give up, ever.
The neocons have "emboldened" the real terrorists more than they could ever have hoped for. They've proven the ever-living Osama bin Laden right about everything.
Cheney's crew thought that we lost Vietnam because we weren't committed to enough bloodshed over a long enough time. They believe that there was some amount of time, lives, and money that could have been added to our effort that would have beaten the North Vietnamese and created a peaceful and stable South Vietnam. And they are applying those lessons to Iraq.
They were wrong then and they're wrong now. Look: they got back into power in 2000 by running as "Compassionate Conservatives." Nobody wanted Nixon II. They used 9-11 politically to an extent that I didn't know Americans were capable of. Could they really be that cynical? That questions was settled a long time ago.
Still, even in 2004 - once again a Nixonian moment where the fear was cranked up and the rightists challenged people to 'not change horses in mid-stream' - nobody voted for Vietnam II. They lied to start the war, and they've lied to perpetuate it.
So how about, for a change, we stop doing all the wrong things? Peace with honor?
Let's just start by, for once, acting honorably.
But Dick went to talk more to our 50,000 or so troops still there. And his message was as clear as it was chilling: "peace with honor."
TOKYO (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney said on Wednesday the United States wants to finish its mission in Iraq and "return with honor", despite the war's growing unpopularity at home and doubts among U.S. allies.
So that's really what we're waiting for - some sort of arrangement where we can get out and retain some modicum of "honor." No worries about throwing away the lives of Americans and Iraqis, no thought to the vast tons of treasure - tax dollars - being burned, or the ruinous effect of the war on America;'s standing in the world.
Now, where have I heard that before? Hmmm?
How about here:
Good evening. I have asked for this radio and television time tonight for the purpose of announcing that we today have concluded an agreement to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia.
Sound familiar? That was another Tricky Dick - Nixon. In 1973, announcing the end to US involvement in Vietnam. He and the once and future American Machiavelli, Hank Kissinger, accepted the peace that they knew was inevitable years before. We now know that they were sure South Vietnam would collapse, and only wanted a "decent interval" between our withdrawal and the end of the misbegotten US puppet regime in Saigon.
So we're now into the phase where we wait until we can declare victory and get out as fast as humanly possible. The choppers are warming up in the Green Zone to get the VIP's gone before the rabble rushes the roof.
Tony Blair is way ahead of us, announcing British troop withdrawals starting, like, now. A day late and a pound short, but still way ahead of the neocon warmongers on this side of the pond.
Cheney had more to say:
"We know that terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength, they are invited by the perception of weakness," Cheney said in a speech aboard the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier at Yokosuka Navy Base near Tokyo.
As I've said before, real strength is based on smarts as much as muscle. Cheney and his ilk, like he and his ilk in 1973, only see that they're killing a lot of people. To them, that's strength. To the rest of the world, it's a clear sign of weakness. We are too dumb to bring about the political reconciliation that will result in real peace. We try to answer political questions with more bullets and bombs.
And that's just dumb.
Like in Vietnam, we're creating new insurgents (read: Vietcong) every day by our ham handed and oppressive policies. And just like in Vietnam, we just can't kill that many people. When we blow up an insurgent, we make lethal enemies of his whole family, village, and coreligionists. And they won't give up, ever.
The neocons have "emboldened" the real terrorists more than they could ever have hoped for. They've proven the ever-living Osama bin Laden right about everything.
Cheney's crew thought that we lost Vietnam because we weren't committed to enough bloodshed over a long enough time. They believe that there was some amount of time, lives, and money that could have been added to our effort that would have beaten the North Vietnamese and created a peaceful and stable South Vietnam. And they are applying those lessons to Iraq.
They were wrong then and they're wrong now. Look: they got back into power in 2000 by running as "Compassionate Conservatives." Nobody wanted Nixon II. They used 9-11 politically to an extent that I didn't know Americans were capable of. Could they really be that cynical? That questions was settled a long time ago.
Still, even in 2004 - once again a Nixonian moment where the fear was cranked up and the rightists challenged people to 'not change horses in mid-stream' - nobody voted for Vietnam II. They lied to start the war, and they've lied to perpetuate it.
So how about, for a change, we stop doing all the wrong things? Peace with honor?
Let's just start by, for once, acting honorably.
posted by fiduciary at 8:20 AM
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