"Mistakes were made"

Front paged at Booman Tribune and My Left Wing. Recommended at Daily Kos

Not this crap again.

“Mistakes were made” is not an apology. It is barely even an admission of anything. Yet, here we are, once again, with the lapdogs eating up the “admission of guilt” for the US attorney firings.

At least (gasp) CNN’s headline says just what it is – “Gonzales says ‘Mistakes were made’”. But what else did Gonzales say?

"My pledge to the American people is to find out what went wrong here," he said. "As we can all imagine, in an organization of 110,000 people, I am not aware of every bit of information that passes through the halls of justice, nor am I aware of all decisions."

But I bet he was sure of the discussions that he had with Bush, the list of US Attorneys, the ratings and the people who worked DIRECTLY for him who did the firing. Or, maybe he is using the Libby defense that there were so many crimes and lies and torture memos and coverups and lists and people and decisions that there is no possible way that he could possibly have remembered this particular lie or coverup or list or decision

That is all besides the point – “mistakes were made” is a serious copout. It means that you don’t even think enough of the people who were screwed by the magnitude of your actions or decisions to admit that you are responsible for screwing them over in the first place. But goddamn, this is nothing more than a “fuck you” to those who caught you not only with your hand in the cookie jar but caught bashing the cookie jar over your country’s head.

The other thing here is that these were not “mistakes”. These were premeditated decisions made purposefully, with the specific intent to accomplish what was ultimately accomplished. The only “mistake” to Gonzales was that it was uncovered and a spotlight was shone on yet another crime or abuse of power that our country’s top attorney committed. Willfully committed in order to punish those who weren’t bending to the administration’s demands and strongarming. The willful and certainly not mistaken changing of the laws in order to bypass the Senate for interim replacements. Also something that wasn’t “unknown” at the time it was done.

Admissions of guilt or wrongdoing are barely a first step in making amends. But the Reaganesque generic admission that “something went wrong somewhere but damned if I know what, how or why” is total bullshit and frankly insulting. Just like Bush said “mistakes were made” in Iraq. Just like Rice said mistakes were made in Iraq, but “I won’t tell you what they were until I leave office”.

Just like Scotty McLellan said about Iraq back in 2005, although he too wouldn’t divulge what they were.

Just like “mistakes were made” in a strike against Afghanistan which killed 70 civilians. Oopsie – no biggie though – you can be sure we will do a thorough investigation and get to the bottom of it.

Mistakes don’t just “happen”. They aren’t “just made”. Not usually. And not with this crew. At BEST, they are a result of negligence. More often, they are not “mistakes” at all – they are most certainly actions that are taken specifically to get the ultimate result.

Just like when Rice said that her comments about “thousands of tactical mistakes being made in Iraq” shouldn’t be taken literally.

Try telling that to those soldiers who have come back maimed or with severe mental health issues. Oh, but wait – they are getting substandard care for these injuries and conditions. I guess “mistakes were made” with making sure they get the proper treatment too.