Bad people have parties too

I tend to refrain from political commentary around here. I'm not entirely sure why, though if I were to search for an answer I'd likely accuse myself of being too cowardly to venture an opinion. After all, to state an opinion is to risk being wrong. Alternatively if could just be that I prefer to think about fluffier and happier matters

Now, regardless of whether I believe the war in Iraq was/is just (I'm never quite sure which tense to use, given that the war was officially declared over a year ago), it still represents one of the most audacious bait and switches in the history of modern politics. The segue from Afghanistan to Iraq was breathtakingly seamless. I haven't seen any opinion polls about just how many people (Americans in particular, though I'd be interested in a breakdown for the rest of the world too) believe Saddam Hussein to have been responsible for the events behind the attack on the World Trade Centre, but I dare say it would be illuminating.

I'm curious as to how such a feat was achieved. I'd like to think it would take a considerable amount of supremely well handled spin to manipulate public perception so thoroughly, but quite frankly the handling of public relations on the matter of the war seems to have been generally atrocious. Certainly the American government has been thoroughly vilified by the media in other nations over it's actions. Perhaps the U.S. media has been attempting to portray matters in a more positive light. However, I fail to see any positive interpretations of this quote from Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt about the possibility that a recent air strike in Iraq may have inadvertently targeted a wedding party:

"Bad people have parties too."

Aside from the fact that it strikes me as condescending cant, it also seems typical of the supreme inability of the powers behind the war to admit to, or even consider the remote possibility of liability - in this case even as possible video evidence comes to light. Perhaps it's a consequence of the litigious society we seem to live in, that we cannot apologise without facing dire consequences but it seems to me a remarkably sad state of affairs.

Thought iMark at May 24, 2004 10:43 PM | TrackBack