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May 22, 2005

Another Piece of Propaganda Exposed

I have barely gotten over learning that retention was not a cost savings measure and now Think Progressive tells me that there has been "credible evidence" of the desecration of the Qur'an in the hands of our government for a long time. Last week Pentagon spokesperson Larry DiRita, said,

When we have received specific, credible allegations – and typically that’s not what we see when we see a lawyer speaking on Al- Jazeera – but when a specific, credible allegation of this nature were to be received, we would take it quite seriously. But we’ve not seen specific, credible allegations. [emphasis added by Think Progressive and agreed to by Abnormal Interests]

Note the tension between the first sentence and last sentence. He is trying to have it both ways. This is a very typical equivocation. But there is more to it than just equivocation.

On the evidence that Think Progressive cites, there is a problem with what "credible" means or DiRita has a truth or memory problem. For example, Reuters reported on the 19th of this month,

The International Committee of the Red Cross told the Pentagon "multiple" times in 2002 and early 2003 prisoners at the base in Cuba alleged U.S. officials showed "disrespect" for the Muslim holy book, said Simon Schorno, an ICRC spokesman. "The U.S. government took corrective measures and those allegations have not resurfaced," Schorno said.

I take the ICRC to be a creditable source and so did the U.S. government, at least at the time. The fact that Schorno indicated that the U.S. government had taken "corrective measures" indicates that the U.S. government must have acknowledged that there was a problem. Why else would one take corrective action?

If DiRita's memory were better or he didn't intend to lie, he could well have said something like, "In the beginning we did have a problem but it has been fixed and further discussion of this past problem is not helpful." But that only works if the problems are indeed in the past.

You may want to follow Thing Progressive's link to David Crow for a more in-depth analysis of this issues. And you may want to take a look at Raw Story's piece on the same subject.

Before long, we will be hearing that the war in Iraq was not justified. Oh, we already have heard that.

Posted by DuaneSmith at May 22, 2005 10:20 AM | Read more on Current Events |

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