[lit-ideas] Re: MC Compares Bush and Chirac Part 2

[Eric Yost <NYCEric@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Michael states that “no one in his or her right mind could claim, 
otherwise than for rhetorical effect, that Chirac's financial crimes and 
misdemanours [sic] are in any way comparable to Bush's crimes against 
humanity and against the people of the United States.”

[There follows a list, mostly accurate, of Bush’s misdeeds. Please note 
however, that the Lancet estimate of war dead is statistically dubious, 
though not worth challenging, since 15,000 dead is every bit as serious 
as 100,000 dead.]

“And yet, for Eric, all that's on a par with Chirac's padding his 
already-full bank account by a few million more (sort of like Papa Bush 
getting paid untold millions by the Saudis), a practice  that is as 
firmly entrenched in French *mores* as is Gaulois-smoking, 
camembert-munching, and shitting through holes in the floor.”


Now it’s Michael’s turn “not to get it.” These were not mere “financial 
crimes.” Chirac was not merely “padding his bank account.”
1.      He was invalidating the UN as a just arbiter, much as one can claim 
Bush did.
2.      He was weakening the specific UN sanctions placed on Iraq.
3.      As the US and UK spent billions maintaining the “No-Fly Zone,” 
allowing the Kurds to create a semiautonomous region, Chirac and his 
fellows were undermining the effectiveness of the effort and taking food 
from the Iraqi children’s mouths, or at the very least helping Saddam to 
do just that.
4.      Chirac was also providing counterarguments to Bush and those who 
would show the UN as a corrupt and ineffective organization, thus 
empowering Bush in the long list of misdeeds Michael cited.

As regards “the noxious fumes of knee-jerk patriotism,” it is Michael 
who went gonzo after I cited Chirac’s implication in the UN scandal.

I mean, the people who would think, “Gee the French are corrupt too, so 
I’ll vote for Bush” would vote for Bush anyway. There is no excuse for 
Bush in any of this. There is only admission of Chirac’s complicity in a 
great tragedy rooted in international oil money.


Eric


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• References:
  • [lit-ideas] Comparing Bush and Chirac
    • From: Michael Chase
  • [lit-ideas] MC Compares Bush and Chirac Part 1
    • From: Eric Yost

Other related posts:

[lit-ideas] Re: MC Compares Bush and Chirac Part 2