My latest New Matilda column discusses the catastrophe in Iraq:
As the Iraq war drags on, and Britain and Australia wait for more unconvincing talking points from the Bush Administration, one US general has no doubt who will solve the crisis.
Marine General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, last week defended the US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. ”˜He leads in a way that the good Lord tells him is best for the country,’ Pace said.
Pace’s hyperbolic comments were exceeded by US Navy Admiral James Stavridis, recently made commander of the US Southern Command, which takes in South and Central America and the Carribean:
”˜[Rumsfeld] comes to work everyday with a single-minded focus to make this country safe. We’re lucky as a nation that he continues to serve with such passion and such integrity and such determination and such brilliance.’
This ”˜brilliance’ of Rumsfeld and his fellow ideologues has unleashed an Iraqi civil war and an overwhelming civilian death toll. The handful of pro-war supporters left standing — Murdoch’s The Australian newspaper, for example — have been forced to adjust their own overly-optimistic posturing.…
My New Matilda archive is here.