The Mad Lefty, signing on for the first time...
I just watched an intense interview of former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, conducted by MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell. Now, to be fair, I admit that I am a fan of O'Donnell, ever since he took over for Keith Olbermann. He is passionate, direct, and won't back down. He interviews with an agenda, and that agenda is to make his point, one that usually satisfies his liberal audience, and perhaps elicits a "fuck yea!" In this interview, he was no different. At times smug, and perhaps even a bit disrespectful. Dr. Rice seemed shaken, and almost ready to cut the interview short, but to her credit, she stuck it out. She would not admit that Iraq was a grave mistake, based on what we now know. And really, that's all that Lawrence was after. An admission of guilt, complicity in one of the great governmental scams in American history.
To me, Dr. Rice has always seemed very affable, empathic, even brilliant. During the Bush years, I always felt like she was out of place, embedded in a criminal syndicate, and maybe in too deep to reverse her circumstance. Not unlike Colon Powell, who has readily admitted that mistakes were made.
I simply can't fault Rice for continuing to defend the decision to go to war in Iraq. I know it's counter to what I'm supposed to think as an outspoken liberal, but after watching the interview, I see another dimension to it.
Admitting what a terrible mistake it was to send our troops to Iraq, an historic blunder, would be an admission of involvement (albeit indirectly) in the deaths of over 4000 Americans, most with their whole lives ahead of them. Not to mention the deaths of countless Iraqis, many of them civilians. Imagine waking up with that burden every day for the rest of your life. To know that America entrusted you to make the right choices, and you were an integral part in the decision that resulted in one of our country's greatest tragedies, one that should never have occurred.
I'm quite certain if one of my loved ones died in Iraq, I might feel differently. I might consider Rice's evasive responses and denial of reality downright repugnant. But I bet that she does carry that burden that I mentioned above. She simply keeps it in a place where no one can get to it, not even the brash O'Donnell, who dug deep and almost got his loot. I could see it in her face. "How dare you suggest that I'm responsible for sending our kids into a bogus war!"
Well, we on the left demand that anyone in the Bush administration admit just that. And with good cause. But I understand why Dr. Rice simply won't, and I believe that deep down she truly knows what's what. It's her burden, and she can choose to reveal it, or not.
-The Mad Lefty