I typed it myself

It's natural to look only at the suffering and deaths of Iraqis and see how they've paid for the US attack on their country, but we shouldn't forget the terrible price paid by the people who took us to war.  Here's Lawrence Wilkerson (from the Frontline documentary "The Dark Side"), reminding us:

LAWRENCE WILKERSON: I remember these scenes where [Colin Powell] would come through my door and say, "Well, George just called and he took another pillar out. Another substantial aspect of my presentation is gone." He took it like a soldier, but it was a blow. It was a blow to me. I mean, I wrote out my resignation. I put it in my center drawer, typed it myself. I wouldn't even make my staff assistant type it.

Bravery in the face of tragedy like this should touch even the withered heart of the most unrepentant anti-American.  There were limits to Wilkerson's ability to endure this searing pain, though:

And once a week or so, I would take it out and look at it and fold it back up carefully and put it back in my center drawer, never having the intestinal fortitude to submit it.

I'm reminded of Jimmy Carter, who observed in 1977 that the US had no obligation to give reconstruction aid to Vietnam because "the destruction was mutual."

Comments

[cemmcs]

Carter was a big supporter of the war on Vietnam but he did pardon the draft resisters. Oddly enough both of these facts seem to have been long forgotten.