America - Behavior unbecoming Americans

Editorial of the week.

We have become a country of horrible wussies, rationalizers and apologists. In case the first, it not only is unbecoming of a great republic but a threat to our very existence. In case the second, it shows a troubling acceptance of guileless relativism. To wit:

The New York Times editorialized Tuesday last on the U.S. military's "use of a ghastly weapon called white phosphorous" in the continuing battle against Iraqi terrorists.

White phosphorous primarily is used to illuminate battlefields to expose enemy positions. "It also rains balls of flaming chemicals, which cling to anything they touch and burn until their oxygen supply is cut off," The Times notes. "They can burn for hours inside a human body."

International convention banned its use against civilians following the Vietnam War. The Pentagon says it doesn't use white phosphorous against Iraqi civilians and there is no -- repeat, no -- verified case of it being used that way in Iraq, directly or in an ancillary fashion. (The Times attempts to make a weak case for the latter but swings and misses. Badly.)

Yet The Times calls that a "technicality" and opines that the use of white phosphorous nevertheless "further tarnished America's credibility on international treaties and the rules of warfare."

This from the newspaper that steadfastly uses the term "insurgents" for terrorists who strap bombs to their bellies, hit a button and mix their bastard innards with those of American soldiers and little Iraqi children.

There's lots more.
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