Reply #43: I cannot believe that you did exactly ... [View All]

[Pepperbelly]

what I posted about!

"Clark's views are too nuanced for some readers here. He rarely writes statements such as, "Bush's move was based on a lie," but rather approaches it on the oblique, as fitting for someone whose writing has been professorial rather than polemic. I read the article carefully. It was not a political screed and it was not written simply. Although one can pick pieces out of it and say SEE!, but to do so is less than honest because his style of composition is to note X in one paragraph and then note Y in the next. It makes it easy for people of ill-will to cherry-pick quotations out of context."

So when you cherry-picked those quotations, you left out the paragraphs that followed and in one instance, even left out the last sentence because it clearly led to his point Y in the next paragraph.

To finish the paragraph out for you, he wrote: "And more tough questions remain to be answered."

And what might those be? His point Y fleshes it out:

"Is this victory? Certainly the soldiers and generals can claim success. And surely, for the Iraqis there is a new-found sense of freedom. But remember, this was all about weapons of mass destruction. They haven’t yet been found. It was to continue the struggle against terror, bring democracy to Iraq, and create change, positive change, in the Middle East. And none of that is begun, much less completed."

Regarding the first paragraph you cherry-picked, I am uncertain whether the problem with your interpretation is intentional or merely a mistake. What Clark was clearly doing was criticizing the Bush administration: "Don’t look for stability as a Western goal." He then went on to call them on what they are doing: "Governments in Syria and Iran will be put on notice — indeed, may have been already — that they are “next” if they fail to comply with Washington’s concerns."

He is saying very clearly and concisely that this is what Bush will do. Has he done those things? I don't know but it is certainly possible.

You, like so many, are making much ado over nothing and in order to do so, you are having to behave poorly. And did just what I asked you not to do. :shrug: