Liar, Liar, Pants of Fire!
Announcer: In this corner, we have the pre-emminent lefty, the float-like-a-butterfly sting-like-a-bee boxer with long, gangly arms, quick-thinking, ever-ready to spot the opening and reach far through his opponents defenses.
And in this corner, we have the 800-pound gorrilla of a righty, a jaw of granite, a mid-section like iron, but slow...ever so slow to change direction, or to duck his opponenets quick jabs.
Ned: Well fans, the fight is set! As it ever has been. But who's gonna win? Hard to say, Josh. But in the end...I'll place my bet on what must seem the most unlikely of outcomes. They'll knock each other out at exactly the same moment and we'll end up with a vacancy in the champion's corner.
Josh: Could be.
Ned: And there's the bell! Righty immediately throws a big, looping round-house punch that drops Lefty to the canvass. It seems he's got the crowd on his side, they're all cheering and waving their banners. Have you ever seen anything like this, Josh?
Josh: A few times.
Ned: Lefty's a little slow to get back up...looks a little wobbly...he just beats the count! Nearly a knock-out in the first round!
Josh: Knew it'd never happen.
Ned: Maybe, maybe. But my bet's still safe. Alrighty. Lefty seems to be getting his balance back, finally. But it seems he wants to keep his distance now. He's bobbing and weaving, throwing a few jabs when he can, but they're not even coming close. And there's the bell! What an exciting first round!
Josh: Yeah.
Ned: Let's take a listen into lefty's corner...
"Don't worry about the fans. We'll get 'em back on our side. Soon enough. Keep your distance, for a while yet, but keep him guessin'. Throw a few jabs once in a while, and maybe we'll get lucky."
Ned: Sounds like a safe strategy, if not very aggressive.
Josh: I think he'll get lucky.
Ned: Maybe. And there's the bell! Round two's underway. Righty comes out swinging again. A huge miss! And...what's this? His trunks have fell down!
Josh: I think lefty pulled them down, Ned.
Ned: I'm not so sure about that, Josh. But everyone can see his big, rosy backside. There seems to be a rather large tatoo there. What's it say?
Josh: Umm....where's my Diet Coke?
Ned: Looks like...No WMD's! What's that mean?
Josh: Hmm?
Ned: Never mind. The crowd seems stunned. A hush has fallen over the auditorium. There are still a few banners waving, but most of the folks are just standing with mouth's agape. Lefty's taking advantage of the moment, and he's moved inside. Wow! A series of quick body blows, as Righty was trying to pull up his trunks, and he leanin' on the ropes. Some in the crowd have changed sides. Let's take a listen.
"Hit him in the face! Knock him out!"
Ned: Doesn't seem to be making much difference. He's ignoring Righty's head, but he's really punishing his midsection.
Josh: Righty's head's too hard. Good stategy.
Ned: Maybe, maybe. Righty's got his trunks pulled back up, most of the anyway, and he's finally got his guard back up. But he's taken a heck of a lot of punishment to the body. He seems out of breath. Lefty, in the mean-time, is just floating and bouncing around the ring, totally re-invigorated. And there's the end of the second round! Righty's slow to find his corner. Lefty doesn't even want a chair.
Josh: How many rounds is this fight?
Ned: Just three, Josh. What do you make of it so far?
Josh: Hmmm...
Ned: That's why you get paid the big bucks.
Josh: Paid?
Ned: We'll talk about it later. There's the bell! Both fighters come out swinging! What action! I've never seen anything like it! Wait a moment, Lefty's down again!
Josh: He tripped.
Ned: I think you're right, Josh, but the referee's still giving him the standing eight. What's this Righty is refusing to go to a neutral corner. Whoooaaa! He just pulled Lefty's shorts to ankles.
I don't rightly believe what I'm seeing! Lefty's got a big ole tatoo on his backside as well. Only his says: WMD's.
Josh: Just the opposite.
Ned: Thanks, Josh, I can read. What do you supoose?
---------------------------------------
What do you suppose? The hawks spoke about the dangers of WMD's in Saddam's hands before, and in fact this was his main argument for invading Iraq.
After a year or so, the doves came to the conclusion there were no WMD's in Iraq and the war was about oil. Or just plain evil-doing on the hawks part.
Now, we have declassified DoD documents floating around that say there have been scores of munitions found with Sarin gas, Mustard gas, even some IED's rigged from these shells, one of which was detonated. Exposed personell were characterized as having "classic mustard gas symptoms." And tons of slighty-enriched (not yet weapons-grade) uranium have been found and confiscated as well.
What do you suppose? Is the left ignoring these documents because they destroy their favorite argument against the war in Iraq? Did the right plant these documents to fight the constant body blows the left was inflicting through the media?
Josh: Could be either.
I agree. It could be either way.
But at the beginning of the Iraq war, my feeling was that the WMD's would be hidden, just as the Iraqi's had done for the entire period of 1991-2003. Either buried in the desert, or stored in private homes (where some of the munitions were reportedly found, according to the declassified DoD documents), or sent to Arab neighbors like Syria or Iran. (Has everyone forgotten that more than half of the Iraqi Air Force fled to Iran in Gulf War I?)
Still. Could be either way.
But only one of them is the truth. Whether we like how that truth plays out or not.
And in this corner, we have the 800-pound gorrilla of a righty, a jaw of granite, a mid-section like iron, but slow...ever so slow to change direction, or to duck his opponenets quick jabs.
Ned: Well fans, the fight is set! As it ever has been. But who's gonna win? Hard to say, Josh. But in the end...I'll place my bet on what must seem the most unlikely of outcomes. They'll knock each other out at exactly the same moment and we'll end up with a vacancy in the champion's corner.
Josh: Could be.
Ned: And there's the bell! Righty immediately throws a big, looping round-house punch that drops Lefty to the canvass. It seems he's got the crowd on his side, they're all cheering and waving their banners. Have you ever seen anything like this, Josh?
Josh: A few times.
Ned: Lefty's a little slow to get back up...looks a little wobbly...he just beats the count! Nearly a knock-out in the first round!
Josh: Knew it'd never happen.
Ned: Maybe, maybe. But my bet's still safe. Alrighty. Lefty seems to be getting his balance back, finally. But it seems he wants to keep his distance now. He's bobbing and weaving, throwing a few jabs when he can, but they're not even coming close. And there's the bell! What an exciting first round!
Josh: Yeah.
Ned: Let's take a listen into lefty's corner...
"Don't worry about the fans. We'll get 'em back on our side. Soon enough. Keep your distance, for a while yet, but keep him guessin'. Throw a few jabs once in a while, and maybe we'll get lucky."
Ned: Sounds like a safe strategy, if not very aggressive.
Josh: I think he'll get lucky.
Ned: Maybe. And there's the bell! Round two's underway. Righty comes out swinging again. A huge miss! And...what's this? His trunks have fell down!
Josh: I think lefty pulled them down, Ned.
Ned: I'm not so sure about that, Josh. But everyone can see his big, rosy backside. There seems to be a rather large tatoo there. What's it say?
Josh: Umm....where's my Diet Coke?
Ned: Looks like...No WMD's! What's that mean?
Josh: Hmm?
Ned: Never mind. The crowd seems stunned. A hush has fallen over the auditorium. There are still a few banners waving, but most of the folks are just standing with mouth's agape. Lefty's taking advantage of the moment, and he's moved inside. Wow! A series of quick body blows, as Righty was trying to pull up his trunks, and he leanin' on the ropes. Some in the crowd have changed sides. Let's take a listen.
"Hit him in the face! Knock him out!"
Ned: Doesn't seem to be making much difference. He's ignoring Righty's head, but he's really punishing his midsection.
Josh: Righty's head's too hard. Good stategy.
Ned: Maybe, maybe. Righty's got his trunks pulled back up, most of the anyway, and he's finally got his guard back up. But he's taken a heck of a lot of punishment to the body. He seems out of breath. Lefty, in the mean-time, is just floating and bouncing around the ring, totally re-invigorated. And there's the end of the second round! Righty's slow to find his corner. Lefty doesn't even want a chair.
Josh: How many rounds is this fight?
Ned: Just three, Josh. What do you make of it so far?
Josh: Hmmm...
Ned: That's why you get paid the big bucks.
Josh: Paid?
Ned: We'll talk about it later. There's the bell! Both fighters come out swinging! What action! I've never seen anything like it! Wait a moment, Lefty's down again!
Josh: He tripped.
Ned: I think you're right, Josh, but the referee's still giving him the standing eight. What's this Righty is refusing to go to a neutral corner. Whoooaaa! He just pulled Lefty's shorts to ankles.
I don't rightly believe what I'm seeing! Lefty's got a big ole tatoo on his backside as well. Only his says: WMD's.
Josh: Just the opposite.
Ned: Thanks, Josh, I can read. What do you supoose?
---------------------------------------
What do you suppose? The hawks spoke about the dangers of WMD's in Saddam's hands before, and in fact this was his main argument for invading Iraq.
After a year or so, the doves came to the conclusion there were no WMD's in Iraq and the war was about oil. Or just plain evil-doing on the hawks part.
Now, we have declassified DoD documents floating around that say there have been scores of munitions found with Sarin gas, Mustard gas, even some IED's rigged from these shells, one of which was detonated. Exposed personell were characterized as having "classic mustard gas symptoms." And tons of slighty-enriched (not yet weapons-grade) uranium have been found and confiscated as well.
What do you suppose? Is the left ignoring these documents because they destroy their favorite argument against the war in Iraq? Did the right plant these documents to fight the constant body blows the left was inflicting through the media?
Josh: Could be either.
I agree. It could be either way.
But at the beginning of the Iraq war, my feeling was that the WMD's would be hidden, just as the Iraqi's had done for the entire period of 1991-2003. Either buried in the desert, or stored in private homes (where some of the munitions were reportedly found, according to the declassified DoD documents), or sent to Arab neighbors like Syria or Iran. (Has everyone forgotten that more than half of the Iraqi Air Force fled to Iran in Gulf War I?)
Still. Could be either way.
But only one of them is the truth. Whether we like how that truth plays out or not.
2 Comments:
Nitpick city:
1. It wasn't only doves who came to the conclusion that there were no WMD. It was the Bush administration's own task force, led by David Kay, that came to that conclusion.
2. The chemical weapons found so far have been old and degraded, and pre-existed the first Gulf War, and would not have been useful as weapons. "They are not the WMD we went to war over" is what the DOD itself has said. If these really were "WMD", why wouldn't Bush be trumpeting their discoveries? All of Fox news and half of CNN personalities are conservative. Why aren't they reporting on this? Answer: Because there is no story there.
3. The left never argued that we shouldn't go to war because of a lack of proof of chemical weapons. The left argued that there was no proof of a nuclear program, as the adminstration kept scaring everyone that a mushroom cloud would be the first warning we got, which turned out to be outright lies in the end. Lack of chemical WMD just turned out to be a convenient thing to bash Bush over. Before the war, those who opposed it said Saddam wasn't a threat (even if he still had chemicals), and had no nuclear program, and that war would just spark bloody and violent ethnic and religious conflict. No one listened.
Then, by your own admission, there were chemical weapons: "The chemical weapons found so far..."
"The left argued..." There are many folks on the left, and this indeed was not their ONLY argument.
"outright lies in the end..." Lies? Perhaps. Perhaps not. How can one be so sure? I think of all the arguments I hear from the left of their criticism of the war, this is the one that bothers me the most. Not because I have any great faith in our leaders (left, middle or right, I think they're all corrupt) but because it allows the left to assume a position of implied superiority, where, in my opinon, none exists.
In fact, one could imply, as I have in this post, that both sides are guilty of hiding their true intentions, using hearsay, accusations and spin to make their point of view seem to be the TRUTH. I don't think either of them has been truthful, wholly and completely, rather, their intentions have been to make their side look superior to the other in the voter's eyes.
"Dems are weak on defense, so we did A, B and C."
or
"Repubs are liars, look at points A, B and C."
It all seems to be just a huge boxing match, with people watching with great interest, hoping their side 'wins', but not really caring where the truth actually lies, which is my only concern here.
I desire to know the truth about the situation. But I have resigned myself to believing that NO ONE (outside the power arena) is going to know exactly what that is. There are good arguments to be made on both sides, as well as poor arguments. Who is to say what is "right"? You? Me? We speak with our votes, and our blogs, sure...but that does not lead us any closer to real TRUTH, which I believe only YHWH truly knows.
And because of all of this, I refuse to condemn either the left or the right, the hawks or the doves, there simply isn't enought TRUTH out there to make a fully informed decision, let alone a condemnation; too much is hidden by our government, not just the administration, but its opposition as well, because everyone has had their spin machines on full blast for the last three years.
I simply don't know. I could be like so many others, jumping up and down, pulling for my favorite pugilitst, but I refuse. I am interested in how it will play out, but I am no big fan of the 'sport'. All I feel I can do is sit in my seat, eat my popcorn, and await the results of the final round.
But even then, the truth will not be revealed. All we will have witnessed is a kind of medieval trial by misadventure.
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