One of the things I’ve learned in nearly 20 years of writing about street gangs, is that for a man or woman who has been involved in gangs to truly rescue his or her life—and to heal from the scarring that deep involvement in gang life produces—one has to face the bad stuff, the damage that has been done—both by and to oneself. There are no short cuts. A reckoning is needed, a facing of the hard truths, a dark night of the soul, a clear-eyed assessment of whatever wreckage has occurred.
Anybody who’s been through therapy or some 12-step program or other knows that same rule: healing and health require that you take a good look at the wounds—both those caused, and those received.
The same is true for a nation. One cannot just sweep harmful acts under the rug and hope that they will all vanish. They won’t. The poison comes out one way or the other. Sunlight cleanses. A lack of open air merely causes festering.
That’s also what Frank Rich says-–only using other words— in his Sunday NY Times column.
Here’s how it opens:
To paraphrase Al Pacino in “Godfather III,” just when we thought we were out, the Bush mob keeps pulling us back in. And will keep doing so. No matter how hard President Obama tries to turn the page on the previous administration, he can’t. Until there is true transparency and true accountability, revelations of that unresolved eight-year nightmare will keep raining down drip by drip, disrupting the new administration’s high ambitions.
That’s why the president’s flip-flop on the release of detainee abuse photos — whatever his motivation — is a fool’s errand. The pictures will eventually emerge anyway, either because of leaks (if they haven’t started already) or because the federal appeals court decision upholding their release remains in force. And here’s a bet: These images will not prove the most shocking evidence of Bush administration sins still to come.
There are many dots yet to be connected, and not just on torture. This Sunday, GQ magazine is posting on its Web site an article adding new details to the ample dossier on how Donald Rumsfeld’s corrupt and incompetent Defense Department cost American lives and compromised national security. The piece is not the work of a partisan but the Texan journalist Robert Draper, author of “Dead Certain,” the 2007 Bush biography that had the blessing (and cooperation) of the former president and his top brass. It draws on interviews with more than a dozen high-level Bush loyalists….
Read on.
(PS: Last night’s opening skit from SNL—embedded above— was pretty funny, and, in it’s own tangential way, relates.)
Celeste: The same is true for a nation. One cannot just sweep harmful acts under the rug and hope that they will all vanish.
Don’t act stupid, Celeste. A “nation” didn’t commit any crimes. Only individuals commit crimes. Your concern and the concern of the left isn’t for our nation, but it’s to satisfy your hatred for Bush and Cheney, which will never end.
The fact that accusations (whether true or not), investigations, and release of top-security pictures hurts our future security means nothing to those who put their psychosis and politics above lives of innocent people.
If anything, I get tired of people like Carter, Clinton, and ,a href=”http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/04/apologizing_for_america.html”>Obama, who have gone around the world “apologizing” for the U.S., justifying in the minds of others that we somehow had it coming.
If you and others with BDS want healing, then get professional help for yourselves.
Nuts. Link corrected: Obama
Any spoof or goof that involves Cheney is both funny and gratifying in the hopes we’ve moved on. I like to feature him watching Saturday Night Live from his bunker in Idaho and ranting to his poor wife about these “weak liberal Hollywood types”.. But what’s scary, currently scary is the interview I just watched with Robert Gates on 60 Minutes. He laid out the current Administration’s plan for war in Afghanistan, how it was projected to take “3 or 4 years” before the US could hand over the conflict to the Afghan Army. I’m sure Woody will provide some logic for why this war needs fought, but my naive mind keeps harkening back to the old adage that “war is good for the economy”. It’s never really rang true for me, sorry. I especially rankled when I heard the Sec. of Defense repeat the old rhetoric that so many of his predecessors have “regretted how it is truly difficult to put America’s young men and women in harm’s way”.. Jesus! Gimme a break.
“How many times must a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see?” – Bob Dylan (eons ago)
Is anyone else sick and tired of the endless agression by this country against these obscure evil empires? I am.
Gava, those “obscure evil empires” killed thousands of innocent Americans on our own soil on 9-11, and “evil empires” have nuclear capability. It’s too bad that you have tired of the defense of our country.
It’s interesting how closely aligned the “mainstream” GOP megaphone – in the persons of such as Cheney, Limbaugh, et. al. – has become with a bloviating, obsessive, utterly ignorant crackpot like Woody. I hope this trend continues.
Incidentally, the GQ piece is remarkable in some of the details – like headlining Defense Dept. “intel” reports in the early days of the Iraq war with extensive Biblical quotations.
The moral rot and hubris of the Bush administration – even in retrospect and already knowing more than one wants how dishonest and inept they consistently were – continues to shock.
Limbaugh only speaks for Republicans in the minds of Democrats, who want to make the association, even though they never listen to or honestly interpret what Limbaugh says. It’s a joke to have someone supportive of Democrats, a party filled with nuts and flakes afflicted with BDS, to speak of crackpots in another party.
reg, you’re a total psycho. How can anything shock you?
Woody maybe needs to rethink waving that 9-11 flag like it will justify the kind of juggernaut the US has become in Afghanistan and Iraq. The “fear = loathing = declaration of war” tactic sure didn’t help the GOP the last go round. Woody’s demonstrated enough intelligence here to show he doesn’t believe for a minute that any factions within those countries brought down the Twin Towers. It was Al Quaeda under the directtion of Bin Laden plain and simple. Yet we still kow-tow to the Saudis for an obvious reason, and have relaxed the forthright pursuit of the true perpetrators of 9-11. Why do you suppose that is? Furthermore where’s the “change” Obama ran his campaign on? The US is rattling sabers and killing civilians as sure as if Rumsfeld and Cheney were pulling the strings of the puppet Bush. I see NO CHANGE. As for the “nueclear capabilities” of any countries rogue, seemingly friendly or otherwise, anyone with a brain can see that there’ll never be a solution until ALL these weapons are dismantled for good. North Korea keeps stumbling along on the neuclear path, even though their people are starving perpetually. Iran is making headway towards capabilities. Who determines who has the right to possess WMDs? The box has been opened and there’s no closing it until sanity prevails.
Here here, Gava.
Gava, at first I thought that al-Qaeda was based in Montanna, but Afghanistan and Iraq became logical choices after that was ruled out. Terrorists don’t have political and geographical boundaries. You chase them wherever they go. Also, you go after their friends wherever they are.
When someone is fighting dirty and kicks you in the crotch, you stop playing by gentlemen rules. Winning is ultimately what matters, and you do what you have to do. I wish it was different, but like with the Japanese in WWII that suffered the A-bomb, the terrorists started it and we’ll end it.
There will never be nuclear disarmament. We can only try, and should try, to keep any further spreading of nuclear weapons.
Afghanistan and Iraq became logical choices, why? Especially Iraq? Because Bush told you so. It’s kind of sad drinking the Bush kool aid when most of the country moved on 3 years ago, isn’t it, Woody?
We certainly took the battle to the terrorists over there rather than letting them fight us on our own land. Whether or not terrorists were initially a major presence in Iraq isn’t as important as the fact that they congregated there to fight us. I’d rather choose and force the field of battle rather than have an inferior position in one selected by the enemy.
As opposed to me, you suspect that anything that our government said was a lie. At least I made choices based upon available information rather than emotional hatred. Also, will you now admit that the surge worked?
Woody – read “The Gamble” by Thomas Ricks. Best book on the Petraeus era of Iraq war strategy and you’ll learn that no one with any knowledge or experience at all would make the patent claim that “the surge worked.” For starters, collaborating with the Sunnis who were the original “insurgents” was the primary reason that violence was reduced and al Qaeda was isolated. (You could read my comments over at Coopers years ago stating explicitly that al Qaeda’s worst nightmare would be the Sunni warlords – but you were too stupid to even comprehend any strategic criticism at the time, lodged in the Bush-Rummy Asshole of Doom.)
Will you admit that “the surge” was concieved totally outside of the Bush administration and the Iraq command structure and accepted as a last desperate measure only because of their manifest failures ? I will not only admit, but embrace the fact, that Petraeus – who was very skeptical of the war and the strategy from the very beginning – is the first commanding officer who understood the planet that the US had – stupidly and carelessly – landed on when Saddam was forced out of Baghdad. The “surge” – which is more complex than your little mind is capable of dealing with and which still hasn’t accomplished the necessary goals to stabilize Iraq (even as the inevitable strategic ally of Iran, which is what will ultimately come of this) and avoid further escalation of civil conflict.
Read Ricks, or don’t even bother with your mindless blather…you’re an ignorant little annoyance.
That last “surge” sentence should have ended “… is still to be judged and is still, in Rick’s words, a ‘gamble.'”
You might also remember, little troll, that when you were still celebrating “Mission Accomplished”, I asserted that we needed MORE TROOPS.
You’re small…very small.
When the “Mission Accomplished” banner was hoisted, THAT mission had been accomplished. The Left simply hated to give any credit to our President and military for kicking out a murdering tyrant and giving the people of a nation the chance for freedom, and the Left (you) really didn’t want that carrier landing to appear in any Republican campaign ads. That’s what that was all about.
If you wait to say “Mission Accomplished” until a mission is really, really, really over, then we shouldn’t celebrate the end of any war until decades later, if ever. Get our troops out of Germany and Japan!!!!
Your denial of the surge’s success is simply more double-talk and fancy steps to avoid the same thing – saying that your enemies; i.e., Bush and the military, were successful. But, you, Sen. Reid, and then candidate Obama were wrong at the onset, when you were claiming that the surge in Iraq had failed, and you’re still wrong.
Pres. Obama is using Bush’s surge strategy in Afghanistan. Where’s your protest on that?
– – –
Regarding your book recommendation, here’s what Thomas Ricks has had to say:
Yeah, in other words, he has to raise the bar high enough for the Left to say, “See!! See!! We told you so!!!”
Next:
How pompous can one get? That covers a lot of territory with the game not over, but he comes to that crazy conclusion, as if he is smarter than everyone else. Was it a big mistake to bring freedom and democracy to the mideast? Was it a big mistake to overthrow a murdering tyrant? Using the logic of Ricks and yourself, we made a “big mistake” in going to war against Hitler.
A big mistake is giving total credence to an author who pretends to be all-knowing.
I’ll read the book right after I finish my “Journal of Accountancy” and “Mad Magazine,” both of which take priority over anything recommended by you.
And, quit talking about my size, as you fantasize about it, and start worrying about why you have an overabundance of estrogen in your system.
We’re still learning.
Lessons from World War II
Looking back on the 64th anniversary of the Nazi surrender
Woody, have you ever discussed Iraq and Afghanistan without directly quoting the Bush Administration? Just wondering.
When I have ever quoted Bush, either directly or indirectly? I make up my own mind based upon available information rather than upon emotions and direction from others.
But, if I had relied upon Harry Reid or Barry Obama’s conclusions about Iraq & Afghanistan, then I would have been wrong.
I consider myself a skeptic, but the Demorats give me more reason to mistrust them than do the Republicans.
Ricks has the disadvantage in the context of any discourse with you of actually knowing what he’s talking about…
You’re a pathetic little worm.
Ricks so grossly overstated the problem that he has no more credibility than does Al Gore on global warming.
“The biggest mistake in the history of American foreign policyâ€?
I seriously doubt it.
Bigger mistakes in American foreign policy might either be Obama’s failure to confront Iran and North Korea on their nuclear weapon development or Obama’s damage to the dollar in foreign exchange.
…and, you’re a homo.
Woody Says:
May 19th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
When I have ever quoted Bush, either directly or indirectly?
Woody Says:
May 19th, 2009 at 8:30 am
We certainly took the battle to the terrorists over there rather than letting them fight us on our own land.
Easily among the biggest mistakes – worse strategically over the long term than the Vietnam War. No question.
Worse than Vietnam, worse than Korea, worse than Cuba, worse than destroying the dollar as the international currency, worse than the Versailles Treaty, worse than the agreement at Teheran handing over half of Europe to Russia, worse than giving authority to the U.N., worse than Smoot-Hawley tariff which drove us into the great depression, worse than not acting against the Khmer Rouge that killed over a million people, worse than the loss of China to communism, worse than giving control of our energy needs to OPEC rather than drilling our own oil, worse than allowing slave trade into the U.S., worse than ignoring terrorist vulnerabilities by treating the first WTC bombing as a police matter, …or worse than allowing Israel to be destroyed?
Iran says it tests missile, Israel within range
US Senators press Obama on ‘risk’ for Israel
Meanwhile, Barry Hussein Obama sits on his thumbs in dealing with Iran and North Korea.
We need scholarly analysis of foreign policy…not analysis from the Obama cheering section.
…and, you, reg, have no credibility.
Not Gonzo, if I said that the sky was blue and that Bush had said that, too, it wouldn’t mean that I was quoting him but that I made a truthful and independent observation.
Woody, it’s just that “the sky was blue” was around a lot longer than Bush’s jingle, “we have to fight the terrorists over there so we don’t fight them here”. I’m just yet to see you debate American foreign policy on terrorism without quoting Bush. I was wondering if you ever took a crack at it using your own brain. Oh, btw, the sky actually IS blue. That would be another difference.
LOL at Woody accusing people of not having credibility. Anyone who quotes the Bush klan loses their credibility out of the gate.
NGNSNG, look at the numbers. How many terroist attacks have we had on U.S. soil since 9-11, and how many terrorists have we killed killed or captured since going into Iraq and Afghanistan? The credibility is in the results rather than false claims.
In #25, I meant the Yalta conference giving Stalin free reign to terrorized eastern Europe. But, no one caught it.
PBS is having a great series on this. I find it hard to believe that any one who claims to be smart would say that our liberating of Iraq is a bigger foreign policy mistake than that – unless you agreed with Stalin.
You really need to check this out.
http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/about/index.html