After reading the following unfortunate quote at Susie’s Place, I placed a call to Joe Biden’s office
“Hi, my name is Brendan Skwire. I’m calling because i read what Joe Biden had to say about Iraq, and I wanted to point something out.
Joe Biden said,
‘Other Iraqi politicians have said we have no right to tell the Iraqis (what to do),” Biden told reporters. “Let me tell you, we have a right. Three thousand and eight hundred dead. Twenty seven thousand wounded. Billions of dollars. Let me tell you as President of the United States, they’d have to understand full well that if they don’t keep their commitment to implement their constitution then they’re on their own. And so, ladies and gentlemen, the idea that al Maliki questions whether or not we have a right to express our opinion, he’d better get it straight real quick.’
“The Iraqis did not invite us to invade and occupy their country. Furthermore, the stated reasons for the invasion have all been revealed as false: there were no WMD. There were no nuclear bombs or unmanned drones. Saddam Hussein was no involved with 9/11. So while the loss of 3,800 soldiers and 27,000 wounded is tragic, there was no reason for them to die. They got sent to Iraq because the President lied and your boss, who probably knew the President was lying, acceded to this. So that’s a start. All the premises for the war were wrong.
“But even if the premises for the war were true… well, I just took a look at the Iraq Body Count site, and they’re reporting 74,000 to more than 81,000 civilian deaths. These aren’t soldiers who are trained to fight, and who know that unexpected death is part of their job, these are ordinary people.
“So for Joe Biden to go after the Iraqis, for saying we have no right to tell them what to do… well, I don’t think he’s going to win the presidency that way, and maybe he should just go back to plagiarizing speeches.
“Sir, can I just point out a logical fallacy? You literally just contradicted yourself.”
“Really? How is that?”
“OK, read the statement again.”
“Other Iraqi politicians have said we have no right to tell the Iraqis [what to do]. Let me tell you we have a right—“
“To express his opinion.”
“No, that’s not what he said. Read the statement.”
“I am sir. Read the next line.”
“Let me tell you, we have a right. Three thousand and eight hundred dead.”
“He’s saying he has a right to express his opinion.”
“No he’s not. Read the statement. He says we have a right to tell the Iraqis what to do.”
“No he doesn’t sir. He says he has a right to express his opinion”
“No, he doesn’t… oh wait, down here, way at the bottom? That’s totally changing the subject, and it’s not what he says in the first sentence.”
“Yes, it IS!”
“No, no it’s NOT. It’s not what he says in the first sentence at all. Other Iraq politicians have said we have no right to tell the Iraqis [what to do]. Let me tell you, we have that right. The opinion stuff comes MUCH later.”
“Sir, he has the right to express his opinion.”
“Yes, but that’s not what he SAID. He SAID that we have the right to—“
“Express our opinion.”
“To tell the Iraqis what t—“
“Fine sir, fine, OK? You disagree with his statement,” she sighed angrily. “I have to go now.”
“Yeah, well stop playing games with words.”
“I’m not playing—“
“Your boss is an idiot. And you know what, the way you reason, I gotta wonder how you ever got out of college.”
She hung up before I could ask her why she hadn’t enlisted, but there you have a classic example of political doublespeak and the contortions that politicians and their supporters will make in defense of dishonesty and hateful statements. I think it’s clear to any reader what Biden meant. Even if you take the lying staffer at her words that he meant his opinion, what does one make of the closing “he’s better get it straight real quick”? Or what? Joe Biden will counter Maliki with a more better argument? They’ll agree to disagree? “Come, let us reason together”?
No, that’s not what Biden meant. That last sentence implies “or else.” Biden is not defending his right to have an opinion: he is defending the United States’ perceived right to tell the Iraqis what to do, which Biden believes because he supported the war and doesn’t want his support to have achieved absolutely nothing. Furthermore, as his closing comment makes perfectly clear, Biden believes that if the Iraqis do no do what we tell them to do, we have the right to make sure there are consequences.
This is just standard inferential logic, the kind of thing you learn in high school. When Biden and his staffers pretend words don’t mean what they clearly mean, they are acting in an intellectually dishonest fashion, which is unfortunately typical for the kind of amoral, immoral, conscienceless people who make up a sizeable number of our public servants. They are trying to fool people of good will and clear conscience into supporting stupid policies, needless aggression, and moral turpitude.
Note: In an earlier version of this post, I claimed that Joe Biden has no family in Iraq. That’s incorrect, and so I have removed the claim from this post.
