I’ve been reading the blogs, etc., about the Petreaus testimony, and it appears to me that once again the Republicans have succeeded at something at which they excel: misdirection.
Many years ago now, the Sainted Ronald was caught red-handed selling weapons to the Iranians. That was a bad thing to do, perhaps warranting impeachment, but it was quickly forgotten when Ed Meese revealed that the money from the arms sales had gone to the Contras in Nicauragua, but the Great Man did not know about that. The acknowledged crime was quickly forgotten while everyone obsessed about whether Reagan knew about the transfers to the Contras. Meese knew just what he was doing-the scandal bogged down in further misdirections and obfuscations.
Now we argue about whether Petreaus’ statistics about violence levels, death rates, etc. are correct, while virtually ignoring that the escalation has clearly failed, judged on the terms by which it was sold. That is, there is no “political reconciliation”. Everyone admits that. But that fact is mostly ignored while we argue about irrelevant issues.
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