Former Bush Undersecretary of Defense Policy, Douglas “Barney†Feith, and one of the main architects of the Iraq War, I must add, stepped into Jon Stewart’s “seat of heat†last night, pushing his new book like P.T. Barnum and defending what has been called the “worst foreign policy decision in American Historyâ€.
If you enjoy watching Neoconservative, Harvard elite, war mongers get bested by a late-night comedian, than you will enjoy watching the uncut version of last night’s Daily Show. Feith, who struggled in his defense, grasping for arguments wherever he could, was ambushed at every turn by a well prepared Stewart (who actually read his book). Jon was able to reduce an intellectual think-tank strategist with two word responses, that seemingly tore down everything Feith spent paragraphs of defensive ranting building up.
It really makes you wonder doesn’t it, just why weren’t these questions asked in the first place?!
Feith, who argued for the invasion of a country that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of lives, has taken on the symbolic role of a McNamara-like figure, defending an unjustifiable war with excuses and rationalizations that serve virtually no purpose but to distance himself from the miserable failure called Iraq. Guys like Feith are smooth characters, they pushed and pushed for the Iraq War as if we’d be stupid not to go into a small 3rd world nation and blow it apart. Yet, now, this accomplice to the trillion dollar, half a million death machine will get to spend the rest of his days playing golf in St. Augustine, instead of facing trial for war crimes.
May the hundreds of thousands of dead haunt his dreams from here to eternity.