Andrew, Andrew, Andrew

I like Andrew Coyne. He is a nice bloke and he supports electoral reform. But, when he writes things like this I cringe:

The Taliban read the Western press. They are looking for the weak link in the NATO chain, and having found it, they will exploit it -- by killing as many soldiers from that country as they can. If critics of the war should not be accused of supporting the Taliban, neither should critics of the critics be accused of suppressing debate if they point out that there are consequences to their fecklessness. The Prime Minister has invited them to grow up. They should accept.

If being "grown up" means blindly following a counter insurgency strategy that has not worked in five years, is panned by people who know the country and pretending that following such a course is consequence free, then God help us. Being grown up has never felt more like infantalization.

To me, being grown up means learning from one's mistakes and adjusting one's policies to the realities on the ground. The sooner the government and its media allies learn this lesson, the sooner we will all be more grown up.

Recommend this Post