Friday, March 19, 2004
Rumsfeld on the Light of Freedom
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has authored an editorial entitled "The Price of Freedom in Iraq," in today's NY Times. He doesn't say anything new, or really anything substantive. It's another example of "Rally 'round the flag, boys" hyperbole and optimistic predictions of vindication:
"Americans do not come easily to war, but neither do Americans take freedom lightly. But when freedom and self-government have taken root in Iraq, and that country becomes a force for good in the Middle East, the rightness of those efforts will be just as clear as it is today in Korea, Germany, Japan and Italy."
He opens the editorial with an anecdote of how he justified the war in Iraq to a South Korean reporter. He told her about a satellite photo:
"We were speaking on an upper floor of a large hotel in Seoul. I asked the woman to look out the window — at the lights, the cars, the energy of the vibrant economy of South Korea. I told her about a satellite photo of the Korean peninsula, taken at night, that I keep on a table in my Pentagon office. North of the demilitarized zone there is nothing but darkness — except a pinprick of light around Pyongyang — while the entire country of South Korea is ablaze in light, the light of freedom.."
The light of freedom, as exemplified by headlights and neon.
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"Americans do not come easily to war, but neither do Americans take freedom lightly. But when freedom and self-government have taken root in Iraq, and that country becomes a force for good in the Middle East, the rightness of those efforts will be just as clear as it is today in Korea, Germany, Japan and Italy."
He opens the editorial with an anecdote of how he justified the war in Iraq to a South Korean reporter. He told her about a satellite photo:
"We were speaking on an upper floor of a large hotel in Seoul. I asked the woman to look out the window — at the lights, the cars, the energy of the vibrant economy of South Korea. I told her about a satellite photo of the Korean peninsula, taken at night, that I keep on a table in my Pentagon office. North of the demilitarized zone there is nothing but darkness — except a pinprick of light around Pyongyang — while the entire country of South Korea is ablaze in light, the light of freedom.."
The light of freedom, as exemplified by headlights and neon.
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Posted by Rogueslayer at 8:25 AM 
