Or it’ll shine a questioning spotlight on your credibility ... just ask Ret. Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez, who spoke publicly for the first time on Friday about his assessment of the Iraq War.
- from Friday’s program ...
General Sanchez was the US commander in Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004. During this time, the insurgency took hold, and the Abu Ghraib abuses came to light. His leadership was questioned, and he was placed in a European assignment at the end of his Iraq command, without the possibility of achieving four-star status. So I guess it’s natural to question his motives when he states that: (1) US leaders have been derelict in their duty and would be court-martialed if they were in the military, (2) the current administration hasn’t properly mobilized other parts of the government to provide (diplomatic) solutions, and (3) the best we can do in Iraq is to stave off defeat.
The 360 panel discussion (Anderson, Jamie McIntyre and Nic Robertson) filled in different details about this sudden disclosure – obviously, no White House comment and a neutral NSC comment. Both Jamie and Nic talked about active duty military not being free to speak their minds, but Nic added that in private, unguarded moments, there are senior and mid-level commanders who will say that they believe they’ve been “dumped on” and given an impossible task to achieve. Which correlates with the statements from General Sanchez. I do hope that General Sanchez understands that nothing will change because of his remarks!!
Journey of Learning ...
Agnostic journalist A.J. Jacobs spent 12 months “living biblically” because, after having been raised in a secular home, he wanted to find out if he was missing anything. So during this time, he lived his life according to biblical rules and among other lessons, he learned to become more tolerant of other religions and also began believing that there is “something to the idea of sacredness.” I think one of the amusing parts of this segment was that A.J. attended the same school as Anderson (i.e. – Dalton), so there was an instant camaraderie throughout the interview. A.J. has also written a book entitled “The Year of Living Biblically”, chronicling his 12-month adventure.
Fun on a Friday night ...
I saved the “FUN” for last ... from the “What Were They Thinking?” segment – as reported in the NY Post, a New York City “naked tourist” was arrested and sent for psychiatric evaluation, but not before managing to “jump up and down on a counter inside of a steakhouse during lunchtime” ... bon appétit ...
Many, many congrats to Tom Foreman ... he’s just so choked up after having received his Nobel Prize for snarky political reporting ...
And ... yes, this is the normal reaction after ANY edition of Raw Politics from the above-mentioned Mr. Foreman ...
Thanks for visiting - hope you had a wonderful weekend!
3 comments:
Really enjoyed the interview with A.J Jacobs. Looking forward to reading his new book. Today I signed out his book "The Know-It-All"( One man's humble quest to become the smartest person in the world). It sounds like it is hilarious so am looking forward to a few chuckles and of course becoming just so much smarter.:-)
Mr. Jacobs seemed like he'd be writing an amusing tale, regardless of the subject matter. I'll have to check out some of other books as well!
I highly recommend " The Know It All". I'm only at the "C's" and besides learning all sort of interesting little facts I've been having lots of those laughing out loud while reading moments.
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