Finally A President Not Governed By Fear

[bpcmxr]

Bravo, Andrew Sullivan:

<snip>

"When you listen to the Fox News right speak about this, they reveal amazing levels of fear. They have been truly spooked by these men with long beards and chilling eyes. They are so scared of them they are willing to drop any and all legal principles that the West has historically used with respect to mass murderers. Their fear brought them to institute torture, and to engage in mass brutality against prisoners of war in every theater of combat in a manner that will tragically taint the honor of the US military for a very long time. It led them to establish Gitmo, to create for the world a reverse symbol of the Statue of Liberty, and imprint it on the minds and in the consciences of an entire generation of human beings, whose view of America will never be the same.

"It made speedy prosecution of any of those who allegedly plotted and planned 9/11 impossible - and will make actual prosecution of any of them extremely hard. It turns out, then, that the primary (if not the only) thing we had to fear - was fear itself. It was our fear that gave al Qaeda so many propaganda victories.

"And it is the refusal to be afraid that reflects the decision to bring this fanatic mass murderer back to the scene of the crime, to remind the world, all these years later, of why he is on trial, to restore a patriotic pride in the system we have, a system which it is al Qaeda's goal to destroy.

"I believe this is the best symbolic answer to 9/11: a trial, with due process, after tempers have calmed somewhat, that exposes this evil for all it truly was. And also reveals the tragedy of an American government that lost its nerve and has now, under a new president, regained it."


The rest: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/11/torture-taints-everything-it-touches.html#more

[dalaigh lllama]

1. I second that bravo

and raise it with a K&R

[DrDan]

2. "Finally"??? What does that mean? We have not had one in the past?

Perhaps the last was led by fear, but surely he is not implying this is the first.

[Tutankhamun]

3. Finally, after eight long years (?)

Possibly.

[Martin Eden]

4. They governed THROUGH fear

Cheney & Bush weren't afraid -- they had an agenda and were greedy for wealth & power.

To attain their goals they manipulated the American people through FEAR and by exploitung the national tragedy of 9/11.

The torture and abandonment of our country's principles was merely the lack of their own principles and their inherent authoritarianism.

[bpcmxr]

5. Kick for the evening crowd. n/t

[TankLV]

6. Wow - wonderfully and beautifully said...