Wednesday, March 22, 2006
LBJ had it right
Jury service appears to be finished, so I'm back.
Two items in today's headlines illustrate why the Kindler Gentler War doesn't work.
This story about Sergeant Michael Smith is especially irritating. Smith was among the prison guards at Abu Ghraib, and was convicted yesterday on several counts of doing his job properly and enthusiastically.
Smith said "Soldiers are not supposed to be soft and cuddly", and only regrets that he didn't learn how to play the game of satisfying the idiots above him. [Edit: Smith didn't say 'idiots'; it's just a factual observation.]
He should be promoted, not imprisoned.
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And the story of the Afghan Christian sentenced to death by the "new" Afghan government shows the deeper contradictions of the Wilson / Bush approach. By focusing on elections and human rights as the primary goal of war, we open the door for critics to say "Why did we fight if this is the result?"
And those criticisms are fully justified.
LBJ had a much cleaner and clearer approach. When human-rights types complained about the atrocious behavior of dictator Trujillo (in the Dominican Republic), LBJ famously responded "He may be an SOB, but he's our SOB."
That's all we should require of our planted governments. We should expect them to be firmly and solidly ours, and pay no attention to how they treat their people, unless they are likely to lose power by over-reaching. ¶ 8:59 AM
Two items in today's headlines illustrate why the Kindler Gentler War doesn't work.
This story about Sergeant Michael Smith is especially irritating. Smith was among the prison guards at Abu Ghraib, and was convicted yesterday on several counts of doing his job properly and enthusiastically.
Smith said "Soldiers are not supposed to be soft and cuddly", and only regrets that he didn't learn how to play the game of satisfying the idiots above him. [Edit: Smith didn't say 'idiots'; it's just a factual observation.]
He should be promoted, not imprisoned.
-----
And the story of the Afghan Christian sentenced to death by the "new" Afghan government shows the deeper contradictions of the Wilson / Bush approach. By focusing on elections and human rights as the primary goal of war, we open the door for critics to say "Why did we fight if this is the result?"
And those criticisms are fully justified.
LBJ had a much cleaner and clearer approach. When human-rights types complained about the atrocious behavior of dictator Trujillo (in the Dominican Republic), LBJ famously responded "He may be an SOB, but he's our SOB."
That's all we should require of our planted governments. We should expect them to be firmly and solidly ours, and pay no attention to how they treat their people, unless they are likely to lose power by over-reaching. ¶ 8:59 AM
