This space will hopefully be filled by a regular exercise in critical thinking and humor that I, a home-brewing Philosophy major, am uniquely qualified to perform. My plan is to spend a little time every few days summarizing the arguments of a syndicated editorialist appearing in my local newspaper's opinion pages, along with any letters or pieces by local opinion-writers that catch my fancy. Since I was inspired to take on this task by Presidential speechwriter / Presidential speech critic (of same speech) / Sourpuss for Freedom Charles Krauthammer's editorial in yesterday's paper, I will make it the subject of today's diary. Welcome, to
Why They're Wrong.
"Charles Krauthammer, Iraq and terrorism: a rebuttal"
Krauthammer's points:
1. Bush's momentum in the polls was halted by the NIE report that the war in Iraq has made terrorism worse.
WTW: One point to Mr. Sourpuss.
2. This is a bad thing and needs rebuttal.
WTW: The buttal was just fine, thank you. Bush was making headway by lying about the immediate effect of the war making us safer. (See below.)
3. Counting terrorists is like counting angels on the head of a pin, i.e. speculative and therefore pointless.
WTW: The NIE was making a case based on "all else being equal." Without resorting to speculation (which you seem to dislike) it's the only possible way to evaluate the claim one way or the other.
4. The same intelligence agencies making the claim were the ones who said finding Saddam's WMD was a "slam dunk."
WTW: Cheney got the estimate he wanted before the war. The administration then proceeded to scapegoat the intelligence agencies for the administration's failures. So from now on the President can expect the intelligence community to providing its actual honest opinions -- especially when to do so is embarrassing for the President.
5. Islamists were already ticked off before the war. Osama was enraged over dead Iraqis resulting from sanctions and the American military presence in the land of Mecca and Medina.
WTW: Two points to Mr. Sourpuss.
6. These grievances were alleviated by the war.
WTW: So appeasement is now a GOOD thing? He only implies as much, but I've heard conservatives say so in earnest. Hmmmm.
7. Islamists are still enraged. In fact they go mad over the teensiest slights, such as cartoons and papal rhetorical flourishes.
WTW: The current tenor of Muslim sentiment around the world exists in a world in which the Iraq war DID happen. It can't be claimed as a reason why the invasion didn't stir up anger among Muslims because it is in fact evidence that it has!
8. Kamikazes / We beat the Japanese.
WTW: We had to NUKE the Japanese. And no, I wouldn't put it past you bastards to consider it.
9. The war in Iraq is drawing terrorists into combat. Fight them there not here.
WTW: This belies the lie that you lied when you lied about WMD being the reason for the war. Once that lie died you lied again and said it was for Democracy. Now you're saying that the best thing about the war is that, through its failure to accomplish Democracy, it has embroiled Iraq in a bloody internecine conflict which will cost the Iraqi people thousands if not millions of lives, billions of dollars, put them at risk of civil war, and completely destabilize the region. You evil, Machiavellian, lying sack of pig dung.
10. That's why we haven't been attacked in five years.
WTW: Angels / heads of pins. And no you can't use my own "all else being equal" argument against me. There's never been a predictable timetable for terrorist attacks to use for comparison.
11. War makes you less safe until you win.
WTW: Bush didn't boost his numbers by claiming the war would make us safer eventually. He has claimed that we're safer right now. You have just come up with an excellent reason why his numbers' rise was on false pretenses and was thus undeserved in the first place.