I am mad.

Former counter-terrorism adviser Richard Clarke criticizes Bush on CBS's 60 minutes. What's got me mad is how little attention this one line has gotten:

When Rumsfeld was told that they should bomb Afghanistan because that's where al-Qaeda is, he responds, "there aren't any good targets in Afghanistan and there are lots of good targets in Iraq."

If it's true, it's one of the most morally repugnant statements by a top-level official. Rumsfeld is basically saying, "let's kill random innocent people just because we're mad." These are the words of a murderous mind veiled by "patriotism" and "war."

I'm trying hard to question my thinking on this one. Am I upset just because I'm a liberal? Am I reading too much into this? No, the answer is no, this is flat-out, wanton murder justification.

And I'm scanning the news, and this line hasn't drawn much of a flinch, which just goes to show how morally simple we are. Bumper-sticker statements that sound morally okay are allowed to slide for policy. When Dennis Miller goes up and says "aw come on, Saddam and Osama are probably on speed-dial," people just laugh and agree. This is passive, mass, sheep-morality, and it makes me sick. It's the same thing that allows ppl to go "Oh, the Jews are probably up to something" and so many people will just nod and let it slide.

All humans do this too. Simple sounded statements cast in the right light can justify pretty much anything. Hell, I probably do this too. Such is our world.