[Dialogue] Return of the War Criminal

[Harry Wainwright]

Published on Friday, October 6, 2006 by truthdig <http://www.truthdig.com>  

Return of the War Criminal 

by Molly Ivins 

 

The Old War Criminal is back. I try not to hold grudges, but I must admit I
have never lost one ounce of rancor toward Henry Kissinger, that cynical,
slithery, self-absorbed pathological liar. He has all the loyalty and
principle of Charles Talleyrand, whom Napoleon described as "a piece of dung
in a silk stocking." 

Come to think of it, Talleyrand looks pretty good compared to Kissinger, who
always aspired to be Metternich (a 19th century Austrian diplomat). Just
count the number of Americans and Vietnamese who died between 1969 and 1973,
and see if you can find any indication he ever gave a damn. 

As for Kissinger's getting the Nobel Peace Prize, it is a thing so wrong it
has come to define wrongness-as in, "As weird as the time Henry Kissinger
got the Nobel Peace Prize." 

Tom Lehrer, who was a lovely political satirist, gave up satire after that
blow. 

The War Criminal's return is the only piece of news I have yet found in Bob
Woodward's new book, and what amazes me is the reaction to the work. Gosh,
gasp, imagine, Woodward says the war's a disaster! 

People who know a lot more than Bob Woodward have been saying the war's a
disaster for years-because war is self-evidently a disaster. Why this is
greeted as an annunciation from on high just because Woodward, the world's
most establishment reporter, now says so is a mystery to me. 

I have read snippets here and there suggesting the self-important chattering
class of Washington is massively resistant to admitting they were wrong
about Iraq, and that you only have credibility as a critic of the war if you
were for it in the first place. I missed a logical link there. I know how
vain the chattering classes are, but the majority of the American people has
since come to conclude they were wrong about the war-and they say so without
feeling disgraced. 

What's wrong with the Washington press corps? Speaking of people who have
trouble with the truth, here's a recent George W. line from two weeks ago I
particularly prize: "There's kind of an urban myth here in Washington about
how this administration hasn't stayed focused on Osama bin Laden. Forget it.
It's convenient throwaway lines when people say that." 

How do these urban myths get started? Perhaps with GWB on March 13, 2002: "I
don't know where bin Laden is. ... You know ... I just don't spend that much
time on him. ... I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned
about him." 

Or as Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on
April 6, 2002: "The goal (in Afghanistan) has never been to get bin Laden.
... The goal there was never (to go) after specific individuals." Donald
Rumsfeld: Bin Laden has been "neutralized." And Vice President Cheney: "Bin
Laden himself is not that big a threat." 

And etc., etc. We got two straight years of quotes from officials all across
the Bush administration pushing the idea that Osama bin Laden is just a
minor player, we're not hunting him, the war on terror is a much larger
deal, and so on and so forth. You know, it's one thing to tell a whopper
yourself-it's adding insult to injury to call the people who point this out
liars themselves. 

A half-hour documentary about Granny D (Doris Haddock) will be playing
throughout October on various PBS channels around the country. Granny D, the
crusader for campaign finance reform, who hiked across the country at age
90, is now 96, and the documentary of her work is inspiring. 

She's such an adorably "sweet old lady" that one forgets how tough she has
been and how consistent she has been. You want to know where to get the
strength, courage and optimism to keep fighting for change? Listen to Granny
D. More at www.grannyd.com <http://www.grannyd.com/> . 

Molly Ivins' first newspaper job was in the complaint department of the
Houston Chronicle, followed by the position of sewer editor. She went on to
the Minneapolis Tribune, where she was the first woman police reporter in
that city and, later, the reporter who covered a beat called Movements for
Social Change, where she notes that she wrote about "militant blacks, angry
Indians, radical students, uppity women and a motley assortment of other
misfits and troublemakers." She left the Tribune to write for the Texas
Observer from 1970 to 1976. The New York Times, concerned that its
prevailing writing style was too staid and lifeless, hired her away from the
Observer in 1976, and she wrote for the Times until 1982. Her more colorful
style clashed with the editors' expectations, and in 1982, after she wrote
about a "community chicken-killing festival" and called it a "gang-pluck,"
she was dismissed. She then wrote for the Dallas Times Herald from 1982
until the paper's demise in 1992, moving in that year to the Fort Worth
Star-Telegram, her current home paper. Her column, currently distributed by
Creators Syndicate, appears in more than 300 papers nationwide. 

Copyright C 2006 Truthdig, L.L.C. 

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