What's in a Name?
People are starting to get the idea that things in Iraq are more than just bad.
Several news organizations are bucking intense pressure from the White House and calling what's going on in Iraq by its real name -- a civil war. The Los Angeles Times, CNN, the New York Times have all done it, and now NBC has joined them. Matt Lauer made the announcement on the Today Show.
"For months now the White House has rejected claims that the situation in Iraq has deteriorated into civil war, and for the most part, news organizations like NBC have hesitated to characterize it as such," Lauer said. "But after careful consideration, NBC News has decided a change in terminology is warranted, that the situation in Iraq with armed militarized factions fighting for their own political agendas can now be characterized as civil war."
This begs a question: if the Sunnis and Shiites are doing nothing but killing each other, then what the hell are we doing there? Acting as referees?
Meanwhile the administration, which has forgotten nothing and learned nothing, continues to be in denial as to the nature of the reality in front of them. Witness Tony Snow on board Air Force One talking to the press (this quote, like the preceeding one, comes from the L.A. Times):
"What you do have is sectarian violence that seems to be less aimed at gaining full control over an area than expressing differences, and also trying to destabilize a democracy — which is different than a civil war, where two sides are clashing for territory and supremacy."
Doesn't it sound like Tony Snow is a recent graduate of the Donald Rumsfeld Academy of Sophistry?
I don't know what to do about Iraq. For a long time now my thought has been that we're screwed if we leave and we're screwed if we stay. The only intelligent thing to do was never to have invaded the country in the first place, and short of an ability to turn back time that option is unavailable to us: the situation is what it is, and we have to deal with it. But it seems to me that the first step in dealing with the situation is to call it by its right name. And the Bush Administration with their usual incompetence can't even get that right.
Tom Moran
Several news organizations are bucking intense pressure from the White House and calling what's going on in Iraq by its real name -- a civil war. The Los Angeles Times, CNN, the New York Times have all done it, and now NBC has joined them. Matt Lauer made the announcement on the Today Show.
"For months now the White House has rejected claims that the situation in Iraq has deteriorated into civil war, and for the most part, news organizations like NBC have hesitated to characterize it as such," Lauer said. "But after careful consideration, NBC News has decided a change in terminology is warranted, that the situation in Iraq with armed militarized factions fighting for their own political agendas can now be characterized as civil war."
This begs a question: if the Sunnis and Shiites are doing nothing but killing each other, then what the hell are we doing there? Acting as referees?
Meanwhile the administration, which has forgotten nothing and learned nothing, continues to be in denial as to the nature of the reality in front of them. Witness Tony Snow on board Air Force One talking to the press (this quote, like the preceeding one, comes from the L.A. Times):
"What you do have is sectarian violence that seems to be less aimed at gaining full control over an area than expressing differences, and also trying to destabilize a democracy — which is different than a civil war, where two sides are clashing for territory and supremacy."
Doesn't it sound like Tony Snow is a recent graduate of the Donald Rumsfeld Academy of Sophistry?
I don't know what to do about Iraq. For a long time now my thought has been that we're screwed if we leave and we're screwed if we stay. The only intelligent thing to do was never to have invaded the country in the first place, and short of an ability to turn back time that option is unavailable to us: the situation is what it is, and we have to deal with it. But it seems to me that the first step in dealing with the situation is to call it by its right name. And the Bush Administration with their usual incompetence can't even get that right.
Tom Moran
posted by Tom Moran @ 2:48 AM
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