Monday, March 24, 2008
You know what might be useful? I propose that the media start reporting the total number of casualties in Iraq, not just the number of US military personnel killed. I realize that there are epidemiological issues presented by this, and I certainly realize that the number of US casualties is a horrifying number, but it is well past time for us to be candid about the cost in lives that this obscene war has incurred.
And while we are on the subject, what exactly does Dick Cheney mean when he says he regrets every US casualty? The remark is not in quotes, so we can't be sure exactly what he said-- did he mean that he regrets only US casualties? Plausible, but perhaps not true. Does he mean that he is deeply, profoundly sorry, and lies awake nights thinking about the lives that have been squandered on a folly that his mendacity perpetrated? Probably not. Did he even say "regret"? Possibly, but not in any way that contained the meaning of the word as ordinary people use it and understand it.
The thing that I am afraid many Americans fail to realize about this horrible adventure is that it has marked each of us, as individuals, as being like Dick Cheney in the eyes of much of the rest of the world. We are all viewed as personally responsible for this crime, and our country's ability to be a moral force-- the idea that the United States stands for something positive in human history-- has been profoundly compromised. We have become the thing that Harold Pinter described in his Nobel acceptance speech, and until we do something to start making amends that's how it is going to be. The United States enjoyed the prosperity that it did was a function of the fact that people in the larger world saw our country as a place where opportunity was encouraged-- and in our finer moments we encouraged opportunity in other places. If you want to know why the dollar is being supplanted by the euro as the reserve currency of choice you need only consider the moral example that Europe is presenting to the world, and contrast it with what we look like. We have squandered the thing that set us apart-- the first nation founded on a set of profound, humanistic philosophical principles has become a perpetrator of atrocities whose leadership is without scruple. We were a nation founded on words and laws, and now the words we use-- even mild words, like "regret"-- mean absolutely nothing. How can you do business with someone whose words mean nothing? Contracts are words; the laws that enforce contracts are words. If we say that we forbid "cruel and unusual punishment", or require "due process" but fail to live up to those words who should trust us on anything else?
American exceptionalism has moved into a new realm in our present incarnation, and it is past time to start doing something about that. A good start would be to start being honest with the rest of the world about what is happening in Iraq, and a good way to start doing that would be to provide an honest count.
And while we are on the subject, what exactly does Dick Cheney mean when he says he regrets every US casualty? The remark is not in quotes, so we can't be sure exactly what he said-- did he mean that he regrets only US casualties? Plausible, but perhaps not true. Does he mean that he is deeply, profoundly sorry, and lies awake nights thinking about the lives that have been squandered on a folly that his mendacity perpetrated? Probably not. Did he even say "regret"? Possibly, but not in any way that contained the meaning of the word as ordinary people use it and understand it.
The thing that I am afraid many Americans fail to realize about this horrible adventure is that it has marked each of us, as individuals, as being like Dick Cheney in the eyes of much of the rest of the world. We are all viewed as personally responsible for this crime, and our country's ability to be a moral force-- the idea that the United States stands for something positive in human history-- has been profoundly compromised. We have become the thing that Harold Pinter described in his Nobel acceptance speech, and until we do something to start making amends that's how it is going to be. The United States enjoyed the prosperity that it did was a function of the fact that people in the larger world saw our country as a place where opportunity was encouraged-- and in our finer moments we encouraged opportunity in other places. If you want to know why the dollar is being supplanted by the euro as the reserve currency of choice you need only consider the moral example that Europe is presenting to the world, and contrast it with what we look like. We have squandered the thing that set us apart-- the first nation founded on a set of profound, humanistic philosophical principles has become a perpetrator of atrocities whose leadership is without scruple. We were a nation founded on words and laws, and now the words we use-- even mild words, like "regret"-- mean absolutely nothing. How can you do business with someone whose words mean nothing? Contracts are words; the laws that enforce contracts are words. If we say that we forbid "cruel and unusual punishment", or require "due process" but fail to live up to those words who should trust us on anything else?
American exceptionalism has moved into a new realm in our present incarnation, and it is past time to start doing something about that. A good start would be to start being honest with the rest of the world about what is happening in Iraq, and a good way to start doing that would be to provide an honest count.
// posted by Bill @ 8:56 AM 
Post a Comment