You would think that, given the unfolding Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal, Donald Rumsfeld would display an appropriate degree of contrition and remorse. Well, you'd be sadly mistaken if you'd thought that. Apparently, arrogance is the last refuge of a scoundrel- and the best defense is still a good offense.
By the end, Rummy was channeling Jack Nicholson's Col. Jessup, who lashed out at the snotty weenies questioning him while they sleep "under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then question the manner in which I provide it."
Asked how we can get back credibility, Rummy bridled. "America is not what's wrong with the world," he said, adding: "I read all this stuff — people hate us, people don't like us. The fact of the matter is, people line up to come into this country every year because it's better here than other places, and because they respect the fact that we respect human beings. And we'll get by this."
Talk about "not getting it." Never mind the fact that Iraqis have been mistreated and tortured. Never mind that Rumsfeld's own policy seems to condone and indeed encourage prisoner abuse. That seems completely beside the point. It's so much easier when you don't think of them as people, isn't it?? They're "prisoners", or "detainees", but they're never referred to as people.
Somewhere along the line we've lost our humanity, and it's a process that I believe can be traced back to that January day in 2001 when George W. Bush rook the oath of office.
