Politics: Awful

Kos has good post up on the brutal decapitation of another civilian in the Middle East. It's a good take on how these tactics might backfire on al Qaida, but also how it underscores bush's failure in the War on Terror:

But al Qaida runs little risk of becoming accepted by the global anti-American community beyond the violent wingnut fundamentalist set. In fact, grotesque executions of innocent civilians may lose them the support of many who would be inclined to support them. I wonder whether such tactics truly help rally support in the Middle East, because worldwide, the beheadings are merely reminders of why al Qaida must be exterminated.

It's why Bush's War in Iraq is such a mortal sin. These al Qaida assholes were cornered in Afghanistan. We had them. They were ours. And Bush couldn't be bothered to finish the deal. His Iraq obsession and Rumsfeld's refusal to wage the Afghan war correctly (read: more boots on the ground) let these scum escape.

Yup. For all its bluster, the War on Terra as executed by George W. Bush is not accomplishing much. Al Quaida is rejuvenated, terrorism is on the increase, Iraq is a fiasco, the "homeland" is exactly as (in)secure as it was two years ago and we're supposed to believe switching Presidents would be a bad idea?

As a sidebar, the murder of the South Korean national today highlights the jingoistic "statement of sympathy" issued by the the President last week:

"The murder of Paul shows the evil nature of the enemy we face. These are barbaric people. There's no justification whatsoever for his murder, and yet they killed him in cold blood. And it should remind us that we must pursue these people, and bring them to justice before they hurt other Americans. See, they're trying to intimidate America. They're trying to shake our will; they're trying to get us to retreat from the world. America will not retreat. America will not be intimidated by these kinds of extremist thugs."

'Merrika, 'merrika... Idiot. you are supposed to be the Leader of the Free World. By your own designation, the Leader of a "Huge Coalition". Might you broaden your statements a bit? I know it won't serve your political goals and frighten folks at home as well, but I thought there were a whole lot of people on the line with us over there...

A transcript does no justice to how stammered that statement really was. But I remember when hearing it on NPR, how the "hurt other Americans" jumped out at me. It really bothered me that he had to phrase it like that. It is apparent that he only cares about "Americans" (if, in fact, he does), and it reminded me how it has long bothered me that the news always give special billing to American victims of tragedy. I always thought it was awkward when talking about a plane crash, earthquake or anything else, it was -- "All three hundred and fifty passengers, including three Americans, are believed to have perished..." As if the other passengers are mere footnotes in the story.

That's always kind of annoyed me. But, maybe it's just me.