And, they were repeated and embellished. time after time. The sheer repetition points to it being deliberate.
Yup, having heard doubt being expressed, an honest person would have taken an honest look at the claims they were making. That wasn’t done, at least in any way that anyone could see.
I know Starving Artist will continue with the disingenuous attempts to defend Bush’s “honesty” (even equivocation is a lie as my ethics teacher told me once), but even if we go there, Cheney’s efforts then and now show that Grey’s law is true:
“Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.”
Perhaps we should have two Memorial Days. One public, with all the pomp and circumstance, to remember men who did, in truth, give their lives to defend a grateful nation. There aren’t enough brass bands and fine speeches for such as they, nothing fills the emptiness of good men gone. But we can try.
And another, more sombre and private, to remember those whose lives were less than toilet paper to the men who signed their orders, and sent them on ignoble and futile missions to die for lies. And, perhaps worse, to kill for lies. Nothing fills the obscene emptiness of good men squandered, but perhaps we can promise them that nothing like this will happen to their children and grandchildren, that never again will we salute the wretched “patriotism” of flag-waving monsters. We can promise, but we can’t be certain.
But we can try.
As **elucidator **points out, this is memorial day.
And we should not forget that military men that also fought in WWII, prosecuted the guilty and set a precedent for future generations.
Spencer Tracy as Chief Judge Dan Haywood delivers the verdict at the Nuremberg trial:
The trials of the German judges were all held before U.S. military courts.
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/nuremberg/Alstoetter.htm
I salute all the military men and women that took part in the trials.
And condemn the jurists and lawmen that told the Bush administration what they wanted to hear regarding torture.
Oh, please, no! One is more than enough! And in fact it has been going on all weekend already.
I am already sick of all the militaristic nationalism, the military, patriotic music, the speeches. Enough is enough. I know of no other country on Earth which takes its nationalist fervor to this level. This is dangerous and ought to stop.
Ha! What ridiculous and ignorant hyperbole. Remembering war dead is certainly nationalistic. But it pales in comparison to the nationalism on display on any given day in China or a half-dozen other countries, which is to say nothing of their actual national holidays.
You need to travel a bit more, mate.
Seeing as I spend quite a bit of my time in China and that I recently returned after some weeks there I think you are ill informed. I have not seen anything like this in China but maybe you can enlighten me.
Larger point still stands, militaristic nationalism is a cancer on our species. You got guys marching for the glory of Greater Serbia, for crying out loud. Killing for it, too. What can be more pitifully disgusting than a bloodthirsty patriot for a third-rate nation?
By the way, how’s that Grenada memorial coming along? Sure covered ourselves with glory on that one, didn’t we?
Unless you’re the kind of expat that just lounges on the golf course with other expats, or you spend all your time in Shanghai, it’s hard to understand how you could miss it.
We can start with daily exercise drills blared from the loudspeakers of most schools and universities counting to five and reciting various aspects of Gaige Kaifang. Then there are tank parades or other public military exercises once a month in any major interior city. If you pick up a daily paper (really any of them will do), half of the articles are rallying nationalism in the face of some perceived sleight or another. Every other business name is some symbol of Han nationalism: Great Wall this or that. Many of the best-selling books in the last two decades have been nationalist screeds like China Can Say No.
Don’t even get me started on Olympics. You wanna talk about nationalist fervor. Putting aside the event itself, when China won the bid–some seven years before the actual event, mind you–people were literally dancing in the streets and school kids across the country were suddenly wearing Olympic-themed PE uniforms. If you happen to be in China for one of these moments, some kind of international incident (embassy bombing, plane collision, naval maneuvers, taiwan arms sales, etc.) or on a national holiday, then you’ll see the true meaning of nationalist fervor. We’re talking college kids on the streets waiving PRC flags.
That’s just things I’ve personally witnessed. There is a heap of academic literature on comparative nationalism, and no one seriously argues that the US is anywhere close to the top of that pile.
You can PM me when US state schools start broadcasting Reagan’s speeches over loudspeakers at 6am, when tanks roll down DC streets for military parades, or when there are nationwide protests because British textbooks omit some of the details of the Revolutionary War.
There’s a pretty wide gap between overwrought militaristic nationalism and honoring war dead. Memorial day was initiated to honor Union soldiers killed in the Civil War. Hard to find a most just cause than that one. I don’t agree with every US military action. But I don’t have to in order to recognized that these kids made the ultimate sacrifice and unless you think we shouldn’t have a nation at all, you owe them a few moments of gratitude once a year.
Never said otherwise. If I’m going to have words put in my mouth, I’d prefer they weren’t poisonous.
So what exactly was your point then 'luc? Either memorial day is an example of militaristic nationalism, which you call a “cancer on our species,” or it isn’t. I assumed “cancer on our species” was pejorative.
I don’t know. If they keep alienating enough members of the GOP who then do not quit the GOP they might actually be able to create a serious intraparty opposition. If that happened I might register Republican again.
http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&complete_911_timeline_key_events=complete_911_timeline_key_warnings
The 911 Timeline is a compilation of events surrounding the crashes. It is a collection of stories in international newspapers. It’s facts seems to have the same lefty bias that the truth has.
Memorial Day in America may have started whichever way it started but today it is unbridled militaristic and nationalistic. It is all about creating an aura that these people died for something good and others should take note and follow. There is absolutely no question about why they died and why they would not have died if America was not the militaristic bully that it is.
Every few minutes I see a “hero” on TV. He died or had his brains blown off in Iraq. You know what? He did not belong in Iraq. The reason he died was the enormous crime committed by his country and he was a part of that crime. He had no business in Iraq. The reason he died was that the American people want to be the world bullies. It is the American people who bear the responsibility for these deaths and injuries. He did not die defending his country. He died in the commission of a crime committed by his country and his country bears responsibility for his death.
Remembrance for the Iraqis who died or were injured or displaced or lost their property or limb. That I can get behind.
Or trials demanding responsibility to all those responsible for the war in Iraq which is the cause of all these deaths.
But this day is a day for America to assert its aggressive military policies and that is why you see ads on TV paid by the military companies like Lockheed and KBR. It is nothing but pure militaristic nationalism.
If America cared about the lives of soldiers they would not go around starting wars. No, America cares about being the macho guys in the gang and they exalt that macho aspect. That is what memorial day is. And that is what the 4th of July is.
And militaristic nationalism certainly is a cancer on our species and it is to be condemned and I condemn it everywhere it happens, including China. But Americans just lack the perspective to see how militaristic their society is when compared to other developed, democratic countries. Things like this would be unthinkable in European countries.
I thought he made himself clear above: Memorial Day today has components of both remembering and honoring the fallen, and the cancer of militaristic nationalism. He’d like to see those bifurcated into two separate holidays, and [del]celebrate[/del] observe the cancerous one by dousing the “patriotic” tumors represented by Cheney, et al, in the chemotherapy of public opprobrium.
Sorry if I’m putting words in your mouth, 'luc. I hope I’ve captured the gist of your meaning.
I took him to be disagreeing with what I said in some respect. Since that point isn’t in conflict with what I said, I assumed he was referring to some other point. A miscommunication, perhaps.
It’s not so wide when people insist that even the most recent of those war dead died for a purpose beyond furthering one political party’s ambition to hold a permanent majority.
It’s too bad so many have died fighting under false pretenses, but it hardly honors them to pretend that they were dying for “our freedom.”
I have been in the UK a few times on Armistice day and they manage to honor their fallen without all the militaristic and nationalistic overtones present in America.
Only when I am dealing with morons, of which you happen to be a prime specimen.