No Flinching from the Facts

Very well-written column by George Will that touches on the actions at Abu Ghraib, the lead-up to the war, and Donald Rumsfeld’s role as secretary of defense. This paragraph in particular describes the entire problem of the war on terror:

The first axiom is: When there is no penalty for failure, failures proliferate. Leave aside the question of who or what failed before Sept. 11, 2001. But who lost his or her job because the president’s 2003 State of the Union address gave currency to a fraud — the story of Iraq’s attempting to buy uranium in Niger? Or because the primary and only sufficient reason for waging preemptive war — weapons of mass destruction — was largely spurious? Or because postwar planning, from failure to anticipate the initial looting to today’s insufficient force levels, has been botched? Failures are multiplying because of choices for which no one seems accountable.

The logical conclusion of Will’s argument is that President Bush should hold Rumsfeld accountable. Thus far, he has failed to do so.

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