Lies are truths that challenge our beliefs

February 24, 2008

When Obama told a story last week about US forces in Afghanistan scrounging for ammunition because they’ve been under-equipped, the loudest of the right-wing howler monkeys were quick to call either him or his source liars and/or traitors, with one person Hizoy cites saying Obama’s an enemy propagandist.

We’ve seen helmet-liner drives (shock-absorbing helmet liners help prevent massive brain injury), Bake Sales for body armor, and Hillbilly Armor. We know that our troops are under-equipped and that the families of the troops have had to work — Roman infantry style — to provide them with the equipment they need to get the job done we asked them to do. So when Obama says of a shorted platoon:

They were actually capturing Taliban weapons because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief. [ Debate transcript ]

That strikes me as neither hard to believe nor all that much different from what we’ve heard about our military’s readiness levels. But a lot of right-wingers are quick to call either Obama or Obama’s source a liar on the basis that a) the source is anonymous and b) the source has said something that conflicts with their vision of how the military works under the Bush leadership. They demand that the source be revealed, even though in this highly politicized Pentagon speaking out could cost the Commander his career and will no doubt end with Michelle Malkin trying to peek through his windows.

Even though the story is plausible and lines up with a number of other stories, including one with a name on it, and even though this matches up with plenty of other anecdotal evidence plenty of people have heard from their own soldiers in the field, people are lining up to slander anyone who suggests otherwise. There’s no real basis for the accusation, but they’ll make it anyway, scream it as loud as they possibly can, and slander anyone — candidate, journalist, officer or enlisted — who dares to contradict them.

Posted in Politics, War