...And Justice For All
Oct. 6th, 2004 09:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lederhosenGanked from RoO...
Those who watched the Presidential debate might have heard George Bush talking about A.Q. Khan, founder of Pakistan's nuclear program, who was caught some time back selling nuclear secrets on the black market. Assuming we're serious about this 'war on terrorism' thingy, this is the sort of thing we want to stamp out, yes?
In the course of that debate, Bush claimed that "The A.Q. Khan network has been brought to justice". Those of you who don't already know the answer to this, see if you can guess which of the following that entails.
(a) Khan was arrested by Pakistani police, and sentenced to life imprisonment in a maximum-security facility in Pakistan.
(b) When Pakistani special forces raided the house where Khan was meeting with al-Qaeda representatives, a gunfight ensued; Khan was killed by a stray bullet.
(c) Khan was arrested by Pakistani police, and showed up in Guantanamo Bay after a mysterious three-month disappearance; rumours of torture are circulating.
(d) Khan was pardoned by Pakistan's President Musharraf. He now lives in a villa, and the Pakistani government has prevented the International Atomic Energy Agency from questioning him.
When pressed by Wolf Blitzer, Condi Rice attempted to explain things:
Tune in next week, when we "bring Osama to justice" by pantsing him on national TV. Then pardon him, and give him a luxury yacht because he's suffered enough.
Seriously, can you imagine the stink Rush and his buddies would be kicking up if a *Democrat* administration tried that?
Still on the US elections... I don't know if it's unique to the Australian media, but over here when somebody's described as 'tired and emotional' it means 'drunk'. What I'm wondering is, does 'fatigue and bad judgment' carry the same connotation?
Edit: And a second phony story from Fox... In a version of this article that was published earlier, the Communists for Kerry group was portrayed as an organization that was supporting John Kerry for president. FOXNews.com’s reporter asked the group’s representative several times whether the group was legitimate and supporting the Democratic candidate, and the spokesman insisted that it was.
Now *there's* hard-hitting investigative journalism, folks.
Those who watched the Presidential debate might have heard George Bush talking about A.Q. Khan, founder of Pakistan's nuclear program, who was caught some time back selling nuclear secrets on the black market. Assuming we're serious about this 'war on terrorism' thingy, this is the sort of thing we want to stamp out, yes?
In the course of that debate, Bush claimed that "The A.Q. Khan network has been brought to justice". Those of you who don't already know the answer to this, see if you can guess which of the following that entails.
(a) Khan was arrested by Pakistani police, and sentenced to life imprisonment in a maximum-security facility in Pakistan.
(b) When Pakistani special forces raided the house where Khan was meeting with al-Qaeda representatives, a gunfight ensued; Khan was killed by a stray bullet.
(c) Khan was arrested by Pakistani police, and showed up in Guantanamo Bay after a mysterious three-month disappearance; rumours of torture are circulating.
(d) Khan was pardoned by Pakistan's President Musharraf. He now lives in a villa, and the Pakistani government has prevented the International Atomic Energy Agency from questioning him.
When pressed by Wolf Blitzer, Condi Rice attempted to explain things:
BLITZER: To justice? The guy has been -- Khan has been freed. He's been pardoned by President Musharraf. And none of his associates have been brought to justice.
RICE: Well, his associates are in the process of being brought to justice. BSA Tahir (ph) is in custody. Several other members are in custody.
BLITZER: But Khan himself lives in a villa. And the IAEA would like to question him, and the Pakistani government doesn't even allow that to happen.
RICE: I think we all know that A.Q. Khan was a particular kind of figure in Pakistani lore, a national hero. And Musharraf has dealt with what is a very difficult situation about A.Q. Khan, by making certain that he's out of business, making certain that he loses the kinds of privileges that he had to travel and the like.
The important thing is that the A.Q. Khan network is out of business. And people are being brought to justice.
BLITZER: But the president would have been better saying the A.Q. Khan network has been rolled up or stopped. But brought to justice is a specific phrase...
RICE: They've both been brought to -- they've both been rolled up, and they're being brought to justice. A number of countries are pursuing prosecutions...
BLITZER: Against Khan?
RICE: ... against the A.Q. Khan network -- people like his chief operating officer, BSA Tahir (ph). South Africa is pursuing prosecutions. Europeans are pursuing...
BLITZER: But not A.Q. Khan specifically.
RICE: A.Q. Khan, in a sense, has been brought to justice because he is out of the business that he loved most.
BLITZER: All right. So you don't want to say that was sloppy wording?
RICE: Wolf, A.Q. Khan...
BLITZER: It's hard to say the president had sloppy wording.
RICE: A.Q. Khan is out of business and he is out of the business that he loved most. And if you don't think that his national humiliation is justice for what he did, I think it is. He's nationally humiliated.
Tune in next week, when we "bring Osama to justice" by pantsing him on national TV. Then pardon him, and give him a luxury yacht because he's suffered enough.
Seriously, can you imagine the stink Rush and his buddies would be kicking up if a *Democrat* administration tried that?
Still on the US elections... I don't know if it's unique to the Australian media, but over here when somebody's described as 'tired and emotional' it means 'drunk'. What I'm wondering is, does 'fatigue and bad judgment' carry the same connotation?
Edit: And a second phony story from Fox... In a version of this article that was published earlier, the Communists for Kerry group was portrayed as an organization that was supporting John Kerry for president. FOXNews.com’s reporter asked the group’s representative several times whether the group was legitimate and supporting the Democratic candidate, and the spokesman insisted that it was.
Now *there's* hard-hitting investigative journalism, folks.
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-05 05:41 pm (UTC)I think in that case it means "we were doing so much deprecating of him we started to think we could get away with saying anything. We're really sorry we can't."