Brennan’s Blog

A pretty bad example of how things get the wrong spin on a bad situation I found that Rush Limbaugh called the events at Abu Ghraib brilliant. He also says that nobody got hurt or physically injured when we know that prisoners needed medical attention and some even died. And then there is the misguided notion that we can do anything we want, just as long as it is not to the point it is as bad as Saddam Hussein himself. I hardly would use an abusive dictator as a barometer for this country's moral authority. But there is more...

The retaliatory nature of the current administration is lighting the flames on many burning bridges. Today a group of former diplomats and military leaders released a statement about how the US is going down the wrong track. It is reported on CNN.com. Some of these former officials were appointed by past Republican leadership, including President Bush (senior) in 1991. One can only hope this report will help guide this country back in a more positive direction.

The quote from Rush is pretty amazing:

LIMBAUGH: All right, so we're at war with these people. And they're in a prison where they're being softened up for interrogation. And we hear that the most humiliating thing you can do is make one Arab male disrobe in front of another. Sounds to me like it's pretty thoughtful. Sounds to me in the context of war this is pretty good intimidation -- and especially if you put a woman in front of them and then spread those pictures around the Arab world. And we're sitting here, "Oh my God, they're gonna hate us! Oh no! What are they gonna think of us?" I think maybe the other perspective needs to be at least considered. Maybe they're gonna think we are serious. Maybe they're gonna think we mean it this time. Maybe they're gonna think we're not gonna kowtow to them. Maybe the people who ordered this are pretty smart. Maybe the people who executed this pulled off a brilliant maneuver. Nobody got hurt. Nobody got physically injured. But boy there was a lot of humiliation of people who are trying to kill us -- in ways they hold dear. Sounds pretty effective to me if you look at us in the right context.