Murder is in the Eye of the Beholder

Looks like the American Legion is being used for political gain one more time this month, making it twice in four days used by the W, Rove and Co as a platform to spin their propoganda. Here's a slice of the Big Dick's speedifying - do note, he starts by spanking that nine eleven monkey one more time:

And so they continued to wage those attacks -- making the world less safe and, of course, eventually striking the United States here at home on 9/11 and killing 3,000 of our fellow citizens. Now they're making a stand in Iraq -- testing our resolve, and trying to shake our commitment to democracy in that country. And while the terrorists are seemingly random and cold-blooded in their attacks, we have to realize they are also pursuing a strategy with a clear set of objectives.

By methods of murder, they hope to overturn Iraq's democratic government and return that country to the rule of tyrant, and then use Iraq as a staging area for ever greater attacks against America and other civilized nations. Their aim is to remake the Middle East in their own image of tyranny and oppression -- by toppling governments, driving us out of the region, and by exporting terror.

Our own strategy in the conflict is clear: We're hunting down high-value targets like al Zarqawi and his lieutenants. Our soldiers and Marines are conducting smart, focused, aggressive, counterterrorism operations in the areas where the terrorists are known to be concentrated.

But I have some questions. Indeed, what if the "terrorists" actions were not "random or cold-blooded," but purposfully executed, military operations? Certainly, the definition of murder in war-time is confounded by which side of the sword one falls on, no?

Incidentially, how do we know for sure it was "terrorists" that bombed the mosque last week? Is it not beyond the stretch of imagination that it could have been the work of the "good" guys to incite support for the "good" side?

The terrorists understand what is at stake in Iraq. That's why they commit acts of horror, calculated to shock and to intimidate the civilized world -- beheading men, murdering mothers and children, and killing innocent Iraqis in police stations, mosques, buses, restaurants, stores and on street corners.

Last week terrorists attacked the Golden Mosque in Samarra, one of the holiest sites for Shiite Muslims, in a clear attempt to ignite a civil war. We can expect further acts of violence and destruction by the enemies of freedom. Yet the Iraqi people have expressed their own desire for liberty by voting in free elections three different times over the last year, and we remain optimistic that Iraq's political factions will work together in forming a stable, viable representative government. We expect, as well, that as freedom takes hold, the ideologies of hatred and resentment will lose their appeal, and the advance of democracy in Iraq will inspire reformers across the broader Middle East.

Perhaps, the "terrorist" activity in Iraq - which wasn't there before we got there, by the way - is simply good old fashioned target practice at the expense of our GIs.

And here we have more spanking of the Nine Eleven monkey and some good old fashioned Rovian spin. Enjoy:

Another imperative in the war on terror is that we learn the intentions of our enemy. We've heard it said many times that our government failed to connect the dots prior to the 9/11 attack. We now know that two of the hijackers were in the United States and placed telephone calls to al Qaeda operatives overseas prior to 9/11. We did not know about their plans until it was too late. So to prevent another attack -- and based on authority given him by the Constitution as Commander-in-Chief and by statute -- the President authorized a terrorist surveillance program. On occasion you hear this called a domestic surveillance program or domestic spying. That is inaccurate. It is not domestic surveillance.

If they say it enough times, do you believe them more?