Saturday, June 3, 2006
Haditha
The discussion Friday about the atrocities in Haditha @ Lehrer sums up much of the underlying thinking in current ideological debate. Shields thinks it is America's rotten core that caused Haditha — the evil use of American power; that we are fighting an illegitimate war that is the same as Vietnam, without good intent, issued from a corrupt society on the wane — and Haditha proves it.
Brooks on the other hand thinks Haditha occurred because of the type of war it is (close to civilian populations, high tech weapons); the fact that atrocities happen in all wars. Brooks feels that Haditha has nothing to do with American values, character, use of power, or the worthiness of the cause in Iraq, which Brooks feels is noble.
MARK SHIELDS: …if these charges are made and confirmed and they're — the sense of the United States, we've always felt that our purposes are noble, our ideals are high. This just goes right to the self-image of the country.
It makes us, in a sense, at moral parity with those that we're fighting. It undermines, obviously, the relations with Iraq itself and its government. You can see its government asserting itself….They're going to have their own investigation. And on top of that, obviously, you've got — if Abu Ghraib was an enlistment incentive for terrorists, this could be a poster for insurgents, that the charge that the United States — this is what they are, they (inaudible) democracy. Actions always speak louder than words. And, finally, for the Marine Corps…
DAVID BROOKS:…we'll have the investigation, but I don't think it says anything about moral parity between the U.S. and its enemies.
I mean, this was an atrocity. What our enemies do is a matter of policy when they do the same thing….I think this says nothing about the American cause, and the American nature, and the nature of the American power…So it's the nature of this kind of fighting. And these things happen when you get this integrated — you don't know who your enemies are. These guys are under tremendous stress, and some of them do horrible things.
Shields isn't on the moral high ground in this dispute with Brooks, but in fact unwittingly makes plain distorted thought processes — for all to see. Whatever his intent, Shields is an enabler.