November 22, 2005

Bombing al Jazeera? Not a bad idea

Bush wanted to bomb al Jazeera. Okay. It's still not too late. It's not like The Jawa Report Editorial Board hasn't made the same suggestion on a number of occasions.

Here is the latest 'editorial' cartoon from al Jazeera. Remember, this is the English version which is far less critical of the U.S. than the Arabic. I've put the two frames together (the original is animated). Click for a larger view. It shows the U.N. watchdog interested in a basic chemistry expirement by Iran while ignoring the far more serious use of 'chemical weapons' by the U.S. in Afghanistan and Iraq.

This is why the insurgents fight us. Because they believe--exactly as the Left does--that America is guilty of the worst crimes. By characterizing the use of WP in Fallujah as 'chemical weapons' the critics are lumping the U.S. in with the worst and most despotic regimes in the world.

The same principle applies to those who accuse we on the Right of 'moral relatavism' and of 'not taking the moral high ground'.

The word torture, for instance, is used by the Left and by our enemies abroad to characterize certain interrogation techniques.

And because Jeff Goldstein is on effin fire lately, let me just throw a Goldstein quote in here as a response to the inevetable objection that I'm now defending torture:

One commenter even went so far as to say my arguments constituted a form of moral relativism—a charge I find completely uncredible: first, if one really is against torture, one should WANT to narrow the definition instead of adopting or accepting an expansive definition that hamstrings the pragmatic necessities of effective interrogation (which can include nothing more than a threat of coercion). To think of tactics like waterboarding or sleep deprivation as commensurate to rape rooms is troublesome, it seems to me—but that is exactly what one commits oneself to once one commits to a morally absolute stand on “torture� that abides such an expansive definition.

Because I don’t think all forms of suffering and anguish are equal—I am willing to draw distinctions where those who accept an expansive definition of “torture� cannot. And not being able to draw distinctions is where relativism comes in, I would argue.