Madeline Albright - you're a star!

Former US Secretary of State, Madeline Albright has this to say:

Iraq War Did Not Meet All Just War Requirements

America always has the right to go to war in self-defense but Iraq’s government did not pose an imminent threat to the security of the United States.

The war, itself, has been characterized by massive human rights violations committed by anti-government insurgents and terrorists as well as by militias, including some acting as part of the Iraqi security forces.

U.S. troops also have sometimes failed to distinguish between combatants and noncombatants, as at Haditha, and all sides have been guilty of mistreating prisoners.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

chuckle chuckle chuckle

No, I haven't lost my head in disbelief that someone in the government has miraculously found a reason to criticize the war in Iraq . I am just vastly amused at how the Albright is trying to make a complete turnaround from her yesteryears; how she is trying to take advantage of the anti-war atmosphere by refurbishing her image, albeit in baby steps. [Note how she carefully avoids talking about human rights violations on the US-side, even as she admonishes The Enemies for them.]

In short, I'll be damned if I believe her pretended intent here, in this posting on The Washington Post. I find it impossible to swallow that she has miraculously turned sensitive and cares about the cost of the war in Iraq and the morality involved therein.

After all, she is the woman who famously said:

the price is worth it

when the price in question was the death of half a million Iraqi children. In an interview on CBS's 60 minutes, she had used this exact phrase to put weight behind UN sanctions which were keeping medicines (and other necessities) away from Iraqis - sanctions, that were in force even 6 years after Iraq's Kuwait invasion, which by the way, was a bloodless war.

I doubt she has fathomed yet that men are not apricots, where you can decide to throw 30% in the rubbish-bin so that the remaining 70% look nicer in your shop. For unlike apricots, every human life counts, and it must count, irrespective of whether the veins carry Iraqi blood or American – life must be viewed as important for its own sake for there to be any human rights at all. And no one can decide whether a life is worth sacrificing, except by the person himself.

From a woman who found civilian deaths par for the course, an acceptable damage, it is indeed laughable to hear about human rights violations.

About 655,000 Iraqis - or more than 500 people a day - have died since the US-led invasion, according to a survey by the British medical journal The Lancet. But US politicians are worried because the war is dragging on so long, costs so much and is impossible to win.

I think it's time for Americans to think about the real costs of this war.

- Sharon Fung, in a letter to the editor, SCMP

Iraq's New Year - The headcount has begun
[GFX source: New York Times]