Monday, May 10, 2004
The flip side of the coin
Columnist William Safire proffers an argument for Rumsfeld to keep his job.
Safire says that after 9/11 Rumsfeld made sure that Al Qaeda combatants had basic civil rights for any military tribunals that are to take place. He also notes that Rumsfeld did a JFK/Bay of Pigs type apology for his role in this matter...taking full responsibility for what happened.
The problem I see with this argument is two fold: First of all Rumsfeld's personal reputation is in tatters with the revelations that the Red Cross warned of the abuse some time ago (some reports have said as far back as Summer 2003). Second...US reputation as a government on the world stage was in bad shape before this happened. Unless we make some sort of really bold move to show we're serious that it won't happen again that reputation isn't likely to improve.
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Safire says that after 9/11 Rumsfeld made sure that Al Qaeda combatants had basic civil rights for any military tribunals that are to take place. He also notes that Rumsfeld did a JFK/Bay of Pigs type apology for his role in this matter...taking full responsibility for what happened.
The problem I see with this argument is two fold: First of all Rumsfeld's personal reputation is in tatters with the revelations that the Red Cross warned of the abuse some time ago (some reports have said as far back as Summer 2003). Second...US reputation as a government on the world stage was in bad shape before this happened. Unless we make some sort of really bold move to show we're serious that it won't happen again that reputation isn't likely to improve.
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