Posted on 09/22/2006 4:24:16 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
by Mark Finkelstein
September 22, 2006 - 07:08
The bio of Los Angeles Times columnist Rosa Brooks couldn't be much more impressive in terms of conventional credentials: Harvard, Oxford, Yale. Adviser to State Department. Kennedy School Fellow.
But despite having her ticket prestigiously punched time and again, her column of today reveals that nowhere has she learned much in the way of nuance or common sense. Her opposition to President Bush's efforts to clarify interrogation rules so as to allow some more forceful technqiues is absolute and implacable, utterly failing to acknowledge the realities of terrorism on a scale unimaginable when the Geneva Convention was drafted.
We can and should debate the limits on methods of interrogation. Maybe at the end of the day there would be agreement that, for example, waterboarding should be banned, though I would certainly disagree at least in ticking-bomb type cases.
But for Brooks, there is nothing to be argued. There is no acknowledgement that President Bush might be motivated by an honorable desire to protect the American people from catastrophe. So virulent is her anger at President Bush that she appears blinded to the bigger picture.
Examples of her unreconstructed rage:
The column's headline itself: "Torturer-in-Chief." Brooks' assertion that only "psychopaths" wouldn't realize that the techniques the President advocates are unacceptable.
Her claim that "it's far too late for [Pres. Bush] to leave a legacy that won't be a source of shame to future generations."
Brooks' theory that W's motivation in seeking legal clarification has nothing to do with protecting Americans and everything to do with giving himself protection from future criminal prosecution for his misdeeds.
In its own way, Brooks' column serves a useful purpose, illustrating how the Bush-hatred of the American left could ultimately endanger the American people.
LA Times/NewsBusters Bush-Derangement-Syndrome ping to Today show list.
Speaking of torture.
A nuclear weapon goes off in downtown Manhattan.
In the center of the blast, of course, all will die.
But how many on the periphery will suffer excrutiating, tortorous pain?
Ten million? Twenty million? Thirty million?
And for how long?
An hour? A day? A week? A month?
"the Bush-hatred of the American left could ultimately endanger the American people"
The Bush-hatred of the American left has already and continues to endanger the American people.
This is a two-front war.
Rosa Brooks, you are a despicable wench. I am sure that you are among those that applauded Hugo Chavez when he spoke at the U.N.
Rosa Brooks
I should hire you as my editor ;-)
Anybody noticed that the actual methods of "torture" are never discussed? Is sleep deprivation the same as thumb-screws? Just what is this inhumane brutality we are subjecting the peace-loving freedom fighter to?
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