Evidently, it matters greatly whether you use the word "extremist" or "terrorist."
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Thursday called on the White House to release an email from a State Department official who, he claimed, attributed the deadly September attack in Benghazi, Libya to "Islamic terrorists."
But the New York Times obtained a copy of the email, written by senior State Department official A. Elizabeth Jones, who actually made reference to "Islamic extremists," not "Islamic terrorists."
Obama administration officials told the Times that it is important to draw a distinction between the two characterizations, "because while the White House did not initially characterize the attack as terrorism, senior officials, including Ambassador Susan E. Rice, acknowledged the possibility that extremists had been involved in the assault."It's still not clear to me who used what term when, and who's accusing whom of what; but whoever it was and whenever and whatever, it's pretty damn awful. Or great. Or something.
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The thing that gets to me is that by focusing on being the playground bullies over the whole one-word-only thing, the Republicans are denying Chris Stevens the legacy he gave his life for: the example to the world of being willing to talk to your enemies, to see the humanity in them and to listen to them and to befriend them. That is why he was such a good ambassador; that is why he is so keenly missed; and that is precisely what is lost and forgotten in all the Benghazi noise.
ReplyDeleteI went to high school with a woman whose career has been in the State Department and who served with Chris in two countries and knows him very well. When everybody was supposed to be essentially on lockdown while there was a rare snowfall in Jerusalem, he defied the rules, went outside, and got a snowball fight going with both Palestinians and Israelis joining in, having the times of their lives--together! He made it fun and got them face to face on the street having the time of their lives, because that's the kind of person he was.
I get so indignant at the Fox/Boehner/etc idiots. How DARE they deny Chris Stevens all that he gave everything to achieve. How DARE they bring such hardliner, stupid fighting into our own hallowed halls, and in his name no less. How could they refuse to grow up and mourn our great loss together and stand up and achieve something good from it!