The killing of a dozen or more persons at a Paris news magazine office has kept CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and a news reporter busy this morning. The killers were described as well-armed with military style weapons and uniform clothing, who had obviously been well-trained to carry out their murderous acts (some of which had been video-taped). At one point, the CNN reporter in Paris referred to these killers as “soldiers,” but then quickly changed the description to “attackers,” perhaps more than just a slip-of-the-tongue. Regardless of the time, place, weaponry, or stated purposes of any wars, their fundamental natures are the same. Genghis Khan could have directed U.S troops as effectively as Grant, Pershing, Eisenhower, MacArthur, Patton, Westmoreland, or any other appointed generals. Only the design and color of the uniforms would change!
The news report was interrupted by John Kerry who, not inclined to let a major event of this sort go unexploited for propaganda purposes, let the world know that the United States was opposed to this slaughter. Much of what he had to say was spoken in French, presumably to encourage the French people to support American policies. As this attack took place at a news magazine, Kerry gave emphasis to America’s commitment to a “free press” and freedom of expression. I waited patiently for Kerry to tell us that, in defense of such freedoms, the United States was going to release Chelsea Manning from prison, inform Ed Snowden and Julian Assange that they need no longer enjoy sanctuary in Russia and the Ecuadorian embassy in London (respectively) but would, along with numerous other whistle-blowers who were being denied their “freedom of expression,” no longer be targeted for punishment as were the victims of today’s mass-killings in France.
I all but gagged when Kerry referred to France as “the birthplace of democracy.” Perhaps John was envisioning the image of Madame “Hillary” Defarge, knitting away as the guillotine severed the heads of any men, women, and children it served the purposes of the revolutionary state to promote. No words from the pen of Edmund Burke were forthcoming from Kerry’s babbling.
11:24 am on January 7, 2015
