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Sunday, January 6, 2013

Twelve Years Too Late



Rachel Maddow seems to be having second thoughts about the war on terror, or at least the length of the war on terror:

Before interviewing former Defense Department general counsel Jeh Johnson, Maddow noted that German prisoners were held on U.S. soil during World War II, paralleling the current detention of terrorism suspects in Guantanamo. However, the war with Germany had a definite endpoint, while currently terrorism suspects are being held indefinitely.

“We have always held prisoners in wartime, and obviously we have always killed people in wartime,” she said. “That’s not what is weird now. What is weird now is that we are doing those things right now, this year for twelve years now, as part of a war that we say is a worldwide war in which the only declared combatant country is us.

Makes it kind of easy to fight a war, if you don’t even need another party to accept the invitation.  Did she expect that a war on “terror” would have an endpoint?  Was this ever really possible, or just an attractive name used to leverage the emotionally charged atmosphere of the country twelve years ago?

“When does this thing we are in now end? And if it does not have an end — and I’m not speaking as a lawyer here, I am just speaking as a citizen who feels morally accountable for my country’s actions — if it does not have an end, then morally speaking it does not seem like it is a war,” Maddow added. “And then, our country is killing people and locking them up outside the traditional judicial system in a way I think we maybe cannot be forgiven for.”

There is no “we” about this.  Speak for yourself, Rachel.  Be morally accountable for your own actions.  This should be troubling enough.

This is one reason why the religion is so hard to break.  Too many equate themselves with the government.  Too many equate the country with the government.

(h/t LRC)

1 comment:

  1. Reads like Maddow is suffering pangs of conscience for supporting something in a kneejerk, rather than intellectual, manner and now has second thoughts about such support.

    15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudis, yet bush (small letter intended) is shown stating that the 'Saudis are our friends'. Not one Iraqi was involved, yet we go into Iraq again and have been there ever since. How does one square such conflicting statements and actions in one's mind to support the invasion of Iraq and spare the Saudis even embarrassment? Does the explanation 'knee jerk emotionalism' sound appropriate?

    The sins of this nation are large and lie directly within the conscience of those who supported and continue to support the slaughter and theft that the abominable 'war on terror' is. That so many do not recant, or even recognize, their part in this abomination is a direct view into the soul of this nation.

    I agree wholeheartedly and speak from my conscience when I write: THERE IS NO WE, HERE, MADDOW. Not from the beginning and not now. Speak for yourself.

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