Archive | October 5, 2006

Shoots, kills, and leaves

By on October 5, 2006 in Uncategorized

I thought I’d better post – that chocolate mousse photo is disgusting!

The title of this post is obviously a reference to the title of the best-selling punctuation book “Eats, shoots, and leaves”. The title of the book, of course, is a playful reminder of the importance of commas, and how a comma can completely change meaning and, therefore, interpretation. This post is also about the importance of a comma.

I haven’t mentioned Bush much lately, but this really blew my mind:

…asked about the continuing setbacks in Iraq. Bush, with a slight smile, replied, “Yes, you see — you see it on TV, and that’s the power of an enemy that is willing to kill innocent people. But there’s also an unbelievable will and resiliency by the Iraqi people — 12 milion people voted last December. … I like to tell people when the final history is written on Iraq, it will look like just a comma because there is — my point is, there’s a strong will for democracy. … The unity government is functioning.”

(Bush, on CNN the other day – emphasis mine)

Two things shock me about Bush’s little soundbite on Iraq: (1) Bush says “Yes, you see it on TV…” and (2) his appalling attempt to minimise the whole endeavour by saying it will be nothing more than “a comma” in the history books.

Over 2,700 U.S. dead and 20,000 officially wounded, add to that the 40,000 plus estimated number of civilians in Iraq who’ve died since the conflict began, and the actual dollar cost of the war (see my counter, in the sidebar on the right) – this is a “comma” in the history books?Even if the numbers don’t add up to the numbers in previous conflicts (and there’s little doubt that the U.S. will pull out long before Vietnam-like casualty rates are reached), there’s just something incredibly callous about diminishing the significance of all of these people while the fighting is still going on.
What a morale booster for the troops to hear your Commander in Chief diminishing all those pesky “setbacks” (a.k.a. attacks by insurgents that just may end your life) that he’s seen on TV as “just a comma”…

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