The Reverse-Nuremberg Defense
In defending its egregious acts of the past six years, the Bush Administration has perfected the Reverse-Nuremberg Defense. As you recall, the Nuremberg defense was used by the Nazis following WWII to explain why they should not be convicted for the killings, gassing, human experiments, and genocide they perpetrated. The excuse was that they were just following orders and therefore not responsible for their own actions. This was not successful.
Bush and company have reversed that approach. Yesterday General Kevin Kiley, the general who was not fired although he should have been, in response to a Congressman’s question about how Kiley couldn’t have know about the dire conditions of soldier’s quarters located across the street from his house, said, "I don't do barracks inspections at Walter Reed”
At about the same time, our erstwhile Vice President (a man who with any shred of responsibility would have retired years ago to atone for the series of errors in judgment and false public statements he has made), said, “There will be no excuses, only action. And the federal bureaucracy will not slow that action down.”
Well I’m glad he cleared that up. After six years of controlling the Executive Branch, which I believe includes the Armed Forces, and with no oversight from Congress to thwart any of their actions, it turns out that Bush, Cheney, and Kiley are not responsible for what happened. It is those subordinates, including the dreaded Washington Bureaucracy, who are the villains. Those people just didn’t listen to the clear and deeply concerned orders from their superiors, who therefore are just not to blame. The buck stops there.
The reality is that this is one more example of not giving a damn for anyone beyond the inhabitants of corporate executive suites. The most sacrosanct cause in the Bush Administration is to grant tax cuts to the richest of the rich and make them permanent. If this tax welfare for the rich is to be preserved by skimping on the number of troops needed to secure Iraq following the invasion, by shortchanging expenditures on body and vehicle armor, by surging troops without bothering to provide training or equipment, and by decreasing the VA budget, so be it. It is the same theory that screams that abortion is murder but ignores children from the day of birth.
Bush and company have reversed that approach. Yesterday General Kevin Kiley, the general who was not fired although he should have been, in response to a Congressman’s question about how Kiley couldn’t have know about the dire conditions of soldier’s quarters located across the street from his house, said, "I don't do barracks inspections at Walter Reed”
At about the same time, our erstwhile Vice President (a man who with any shred of responsibility would have retired years ago to atone for the series of errors in judgment and false public statements he has made), said, “There will be no excuses, only action. And the federal bureaucracy will not slow that action down.”
Well I’m glad he cleared that up. After six years of controlling the Executive Branch, which I believe includes the Armed Forces, and with no oversight from Congress to thwart any of their actions, it turns out that Bush, Cheney, and Kiley are not responsible for what happened. It is those subordinates, including the dreaded Washington Bureaucracy, who are the villains. Those people just didn’t listen to the clear and deeply concerned orders from their superiors, who therefore are just not to blame. The buck stops there.
The reality is that this is one more example of not giving a damn for anyone beyond the inhabitants of corporate executive suites. The most sacrosanct cause in the Bush Administration is to grant tax cuts to the richest of the rich and make them permanent. If this tax welfare for the rich is to be preserved by skimping on the number of troops needed to secure Iraq following the invasion, by shortchanging expenditures on body and vehicle armor, by surging troops without bothering to provide training or equipment, and by decreasing the VA budget, so be it. It is the same theory that screams that abortion is murder but ignores children from the day of birth.
posted by John Weiss at 4:33 PM
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