Op-Ed Whores
My local fish-wrap, the Baltimore Sun, publishes Cal Thomas' syndicated column every Wednesday.
This week he devoted his wit and wisdom to the Abu Ghraib scandal.
His diagnosis? He begins by reframing the issue to exclude the central questions real journalists are asking, such as whether higher ups in the chain of command ordered the abuses, and if so, who they are and how high up the chain it goes. For Cal, the question is, rather,
What was the cause of the loss of unit cohesion and breakdown of discipline at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq?
He then proceeds to argue for his conclusion that the feminists are at fault:
The one dirty little secret that no one appears interested in discussing as a factor in the behavior at Abu Ghraib is co-ed basic training and what it has done to upset order and discipline.
Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba observed in his report on the breakdown at Abu Ghraib prison that military police soldiers were weak in basic operational skills. Is that because 10 years ago, for political reasons, politicians and feminist activists within the ranks established co-ed basic training to promote the fiction that putting young women in close quarters with young men would somehow not trigger natural biological urges?
[snip]
Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski says she was ignorant about the abuse behavior and sexual misconduct allegedly practiced by the MPs under her command. Why? Did she not know the right questions to ask, or was it a matter of "see no evil" because of the sexual politics involved?
[snip]
Congress and the Pentagon need to do something about co-ed basic training and the assignment of women to certain jobs that put them - and what should be the military's primary goals - at risk. If they do, they are likely to find a connection between the disciplinary breakdown at the jail of ill repute in Iraq and the sexual politics of people who think the military is just one more sociological playground that can be changed into something it isn't.
Of course, I am not surprised that Cal Thomas would make such an argument.
And I am dismayed, but not shocked, that the Baltimore Sun would put such rubbish in print. After all, Cal Thomas is "America's most widely syndicated op-ed columnist."
But what caught my eye is that the Sun's Op-Ed Editor decided to change the original title of the column from the taudry "The Best Little Whorehouse in Iraq" to the more respectable "Sexual Politics and the breakdown at Abu Ghraib."
The Sun is, of course, not unique in changing the titles of syndicated columns. The Washington Times Op-Ed editor, for example, also changed the title, but to the close approximation "Mustang Ranch Mesopotamia."
The conservative Washington Times obviously agreed with Thomas in placing the blame for sexual improprieties at Abu Ghraib and in the military squarely on the women in uniform -- i.e. the "whores" -- rather than also blaming the male participants and the commanders in charge of troop discipline.
The Sun's editor didn't want to go that far (how decent of her), but as for claiming that the abuses at Abu Ghraib were the fault of feminists, as Daniel Okrent and Bill Safire might say, it's just an opinion.
Question: If the Sun doesn't trust Cal Thomas to come up with a respectable title for his column, why do they trust him to write a respectable column at all?
12:29:57 AM 
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