Two Op-Ed pieces in the New York Times today that should be read (actually, one is a re-read...):
The first is "The Legacy of Blackhawk Down." A great, first-hand account of the background activities of the story most of us know from the soldiers' point of view. Kenneth Cain - who was a young U.N. human rights officer in Mogudishu lays out some lessons that weren't learned about how to do nation building. A great read.
The second is a reprint of Joe Wilson's July 6th piece laying out the facts about the Iraq-Niger yellowcake hoax - and his belief that his facts were twisted in Bush's SOTU. For those who missed it the first time, or who haven't gone back to read it again; take the time. Get the facts - including that he worked under both Repugs and Dems in the past and appears to be anything but a partisan hack.
And in a way, these two are linked. Because we didn't learn from some past experiences - or didn't learn well - the war that we got into because Wilson's findings were ignored has left us with a nation building job that we really don't understand how to do.
One of my favorite, if overused, quotes is "those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
No comments:
Post a Comment