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May 10, 2004
Apples and Guard Dogs
Rounding a few things up before my first day back in the world of full-time employment.
While trying to put together a bit of journaling this morning, I came across this quote from M.K. Gandhi:
Non-violence is not a cover for cowardice, but it is the supreme virtue of the brave. Exercise of non-violence requires far greater bravery than that of swordsmanship. Cowardice is wholly inconsistent with non-violence. Translation from swordsmanship to non-violence is possible and, at times, even an easy stage. Non-violence, therefore, pre-supposes ability to strike. It is a conscious deliberate restraint put upon one's desire for vengeance. But vengeance is any day superior to passive, effeminate and helpless submission. Forgiveness is higher still. Vengeance too is weakness. The desire for vengeance comes out of fear of harm, imaginary or real. A dog barks and bites when he fears. A man who fears no one on earth would consider it too troublesome even to summon up anger against one who is vainly trying to injure him.
and also
My non-violence does not admit of running away from danger and leaving dear ones unprotected. Between violence and cowardly flight, I can only prefer violence to cowardice. I can no more preach non-violence to a coward than I can tempt a blind man to enjoy healthy scenes.
And there's more from Seymour Hersch about Abu Ghraib today:
In his devastating report on conditions at Abu Ghraib prison, in Iraq, Major General Antonio M. Taguba singled out only three military men for praise. One of them, Master-at-Arms William J. Kimbro, a Navy dog handler, should be commended, Taguba wrote, because he "knew his duties and refused to participate in improper interrogations despite significant pressure from the MI" --military intelligence-- "personnel at Abu Ghraib."
and
The Pentagon’s impatience with military protocol extended to questions about the treatment of prisoners caught in the course of its military operations. Soon after 9/11, as the war on terror got under way, Donald Rumsfeld repeatedly made public his disdain for the Geneva conventions. Complaints about America’s treatment of prisoners, Rumsfeld said in early 2002, amounted to "iosolated pockets of international hyperventilation."
Don't tell that to this person:
How sad that the media has put our young men and women at risk by blowing out of proportion the magnitude of the abuse of prisoners in Iraqi prisons.
An isolated incident will be the cause of retaliation by people who know how to abuse and torture.
Unless we already have them on our payroll.
And Andrew Sullivan says "those of us who support the war should, in many ways, be angrier than those who opposed it."
And Josh Marshall brings things back around to Karla Faye Tucker, which is exactly where they belong.
Posted by mph at May 10, 2004 08:26 AM
Comments
Okay... so what's the full-time employment thing all about?
Posted by: Mikal at May 15, 2004 09:08 AM