I caught part of Al Gore’s speech this morning, and I was (predictably) horrified. Hindrocket beat me to the punch on this one, and you can read his rebuttal here. He concluded, “There is simply too much falsehood and confusion in Gore's speech for any one person to deconstruct. We should perhaps divide his tirade by paragraphs and parcel out to websites in the blogosphere--the Northern Alliance, for example, with help from others, since the job is so vast--the task of refuting Gore's misrepresentations and libels, one by one.”

OK, I’ll take a few paragraphs, starting with this one:

“But amazingly, even active duty military officers are speaking out against President Bush. For example, the Washington Post quoted an unnamed senior General at the Pentagon as saying, ‘the current OSD (Office of the Secretary
of Defense) refused to listen or adhere to military advice.’”

First of all, the “OSD” is not President Bush. Any criticism of an “office” is not a criticism of President Bush, and a personal attack on the commander in chief is punishable under the UCMJ. But the next part is really hilarious:

“Rarely if ever in American history have uniformed commanders felt compelled to challenge their commander in chief in public.”

Um, let’s try 4 years ago. Several senior officers were reprimanded and/or forced into early retirement because of remarks (all true) about the commander in chief. That president was Bill Clinton. You’d think Mr. Gore would remember him!

Here’s another memorable part. According to Mr. Gore:

“The soldiers who are accused of committing these atrocities [he probably means Abu Ghraib though somewhat incoherent during this part] are, of course, responsible for their own actions and if found guilty, must be severely and appropriately punished. But they are not the ones primarily
responsible for the disgrace that has been brought upon the United States of America. Private Lynndie England did not make the decision that the United States would not observe the Geneva Convention.”

I want to focus on that last sentence. Mr. Gore is telling us that President Bush and his administration have decided not to follow the Geneva Convention when dealing with the terrorists in Abu Ghraib.

Well, good on them! The Geneva Convention does not apply to terrorists and the so-called “insurgents.” The Geneva Convention protections only apply to prisoners of war (POWs). In order to receive POW status, a combatant has to fulfill 4 requirements:

(a) That of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;
(b) That of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance;
(c) That of carrying arms openly;
(d) That of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.

The “insurgents” and terrorists in Iraq might be commanded by someone, somewhere, but they certainly don’t fulfill the other requirements. They sure don’t wear a uniform or other symbol. Don’t carry arms openly most of the time (in fact, they prefer road-side bombs). And no one can argue that they are following the law of war, especially when fighting from inside a mosque or cowering behind women and children. The “war” with Iraq, such as it was, has been over for a long time. We aren’t fighting a state’s army, we are fighting Islamic fundamentalists from all over the globe, and when we catch them, we do not consider them POWs.

I suggest that Mr. Gore and the other critics who like to cry about the Geneva Convention actually sit down and read it by clicking here.

All of this has been absurd, but the most telling part, however, was this:

“And the worst still lies ahead. General Joseph Hoar, the former head of
the Marine Corps, said ‘I believe we are absolutely on the brink of failure.
We are looking into the abyss.’ When a senior, respected military leader like Joe Hoar uses the word "abyss," then the rest of us damn well better listen. Here is what he means: more American soldiers dying, Iraq slipping into worse chaos and violence, no end in sight, with our influence and moral authority seriously damaged.”

An apt quote. Friedrich Nietzsche said, “If you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” Mr. Gore is so power-hungry and hate-filled, that he’s lost all perspective on events in Iraq and the US. He, and many others of his party, desire personal political power over the safety and integrity of our country. There is no rational reason for giving such a vitriolic speech during a time of war. Mr. Gore is looking into an abyss of America-hatred, and obviously, the abyss has been looking back.

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