I saw Lynch's dad being interviewed last night. Briefly. He deflected most of the questions, saying an investigation is under way. He seemed like a nice guy, salt of the earth type, and now he and his family are in the middle of a ridiculous scenario, thanks to our gov't.
Not to mention the made-for-TV movies that may be out the window with all this controversy!
The actor Christopher Walken would be a good one to play Donald Rumsfeld. Walken is capable of portraying the mock seriousness and meanness of the Rumsfeld personality.
I have only one question. How are the supporters of GWBush responding to this fiasco? c.i.
My sense is that they're dealing with this the way they're dealing with every other problem post-Operation Iraqi Freedom. Either pretend it isn't there or blame it on Democratic carping...
First, there was another opinion article by Robert Scheer (which I can't bring up, but if you're signed up with the LA Times, you can) in which he talks about the WH hollering at him (without denying the story), and also about how - finally - other papers, including a Toronto one, have started checking into and verifying the BBC story.
Rupert Murdoch had entered into a mucho money movie-tv deal, which they now can't produce. So there is some justice, after all.
And how are some of the NUTS responding to all this? Well, after the denials came the "you'd believe a newspaper story over what our Pentagon reports?" When that didn't wash, came the patriotism cries. Now they don't want to hear about it. And I've also noticed that there was very little written about the news reporters embedment with the military.
Now I understand Jessica Lynch's amnesia. Safest thing for her to say.
My doctor this morning - that republican midwestern converted into a democrat - was furious that our press would not have questioned and investigated the story before printing it wholesale from the Pentagon. I guess all the discussions we've had while taking my blood pressure and sundry other tasks have borne fruit.
Not wanting to hear about it, alas, is a preference shared by too many of our fellow citizens, I fear. We want a feel-good story to cap off a feel-good war. And if you've seen many feel-good movies, you know how realistic they are!
The feel good war ain't over yet . . . as D'Artagnan will recall from another thread, former Iraqi soldiers are threatening attacks, including suicide attacks on American forces. The Pollyanna crowd is likely to have a rough year ahead.
Indeed, Setanta. Can the feel-good feeling keep on through the next presidential election? Stay tuned...
I'm beginning to believe that the Achilles heel is not the economy, not Iraq - not a lot of things - but that little character flaw called hubris, particularly when it comes to lies.
As more and more of them come out, it becomes difficult to deny, and then they scramble. Ive noticed recently that when Rumsfeld, Perle, Wolfowitz, Bush talk, they're now on the defensive. And that has changed from the positive bluster of a short while ago.
Seems the question of "Where are the WMD?" will not simply fade away, and it may have reached the point now where, if something is found, there will be doubts and questions about whether or not that mine was salted.
I think you're right, Mamaj. It's really really important for any presidential candidate to start pointing a steady finger at um, prevarication, um, twisting the truth, um, GODDAMN LIES!
Trent Lott (and a number of others on the Hill) have come out against the FCC decision.
Book title for Pvt. Lynch:
Little Lambs who Lost their Way :wink:
I think you're being charitable, williamhenry.
What sustains me is the money and opportunity Rupert Murdoch is losing through this. And I feel sorry for Lynch and the others, but surely they knew what this was about from the beginning of the production. I understand about following orders, but certain other countries have used that, too. We're supposed to be bigger than that.
I would note that while having no blinkers on my eyes about the truly cynical and hypocritical nature of Rummy and Crew, that i dislike bashing Lynch personally, even in an oblique manner. It is unjust to compare Lynch to Nazi officials, and members of the police and judiciary, as well as serving officers of the Wehrmacht. When those shits said that they were only following orders, they were patently avoiding the responsibility given them by the positions they occupied in society and the military--they were copping out big time. Lynch is, militarily speaking, a nobody. If she is told to keep her mouth shut, and does so, it is definitely a case of discretion being the better part of valor. I don't take her for a poor exploited victim any more that i see her as valiant war hero--i do see her as way out of her depth, and i think she should be given a wide margin of benefit of doubt. Most people posting here have a good deal more sophistication and are far more articulate--but none of us have our future on the line in hashing this out. Give her a break, will ya.
I have no doubts that Pvt. Lynch is a fine young woman who is unwittingly caught in this charade of U.S. government propoganda.
One should not fault her personally.
I agree with Setanta and williamhenry. Pvt. Lynch is an unwitting pawn in this scenario. One suspects she's in a more dangerous situation now than when she was being cared for in that Baghdad hospital!
I do sympathize with Lynch, and all the other foot soldiers caught up in this?
But my question is - where does responsibility for this lie? This was done under orders, and they knew they were helping. The ones over them were complicit. They have now taken part in a moral and actual lie, and are getting away with it.
I agree that Lynch and others were placed in terrible positions, and part of my sympathy lies in the fact that they are the ones named - not the big perptraors. But I can't help thinking that this is just another part of the moral morass we're sinking in.
