Hypocrites

Link via As'ad AbuKhalil. Maureen Dowd notes the following in The New York Times, regarding the latest photographs in the Abu Ghraib scandal:

"Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell said some photographs seemed to show Iraqi women being commanded to expose their breasts--such debasement, after a war that President Bush partly based on women's rights."

Thus, yet another post hoc invasion justification falls by the wayside. Sadly, it wouldn't surprise me if SOME of Bush's supporters would cheer their "huzzahs" if the Chimp-in-Chief announced that the war was all about sadistic humiliation of a foreign nation after all, and that it had NOTHING to do with WMD, liberation of the Iraqi people, bad guy Saddam, flypaper, or whatever the hell else they've proffered. Of course, the sadism wasn't supposed to be photographed, as that might have some negative impact on what's left of Bush's core support, i.e., the religious right. They seem to be keeping a stiff upper lip about all this, though; however, when it comes times to cast a ballot, some of these folks might stay home instead. Let's hope so--you know they won't vote for Kerry, so just put them on the sidelines.

Humiliation of women in a war fought ostensibly to enforce political rights for women is the worst form of hypocrisy. And we're seeing similar things happening in Afghanistan, where provincial governments are once again restricting women's freedoms. I understand now why some Afghan women refused to remove their burkhas when we "liberated" them: our liberation lasted only until Bush began exploring his inner adult A.D.D., assisted by the obsessed Richard Cheney.

The United States' reputation as a world leader--certainly, in the area of civil liberties and individual rights--has taken a fatal blow. Wingnuts might not care a whole lot about this right now, but problems will arise when we discover that our business relationships will suffer. Sy Hersch talked about that the other day on NPR. It won't be pretty.