Ghost, you make a valid point on whether some of the detainees come in non violent and turn that way. I do not know. The number, if any is probably small, as like our own prisons here in the US, we're not out there actually looking for innocent people to incarcerate. (Hence, the release of around 500 detainees).
My take on this is I see terrorists as the cold blooded killers that they are. They remind me of the terminators of the film with the same name. They can't be reasoned with, and the only thing they truly understand is overwhelming force. Separating them from non violents is at best risky.
I would have to go back and look, but I assume it was an official at Gitmo NYT was interviewing. Obviously, The Times thought them a credible source, lest they would not take the time for the interview. Either way, I will take the word of one of our guys before the detainees.
Once again, we will have to differ on Gitmo. I see it as a necessary component to the war on terror to lower risk, and with the release of at least some of the non violent detainees, I think we're being as fair as we can. I do appreciate your thoughts though, and your points are well taken.
Goodnight and Good Sales
Email To A Friend
Please fill in the following information and we'll email this link.
Was this book written for children?
Origen: Obviously not. Anytime a child sees this book I'm like, "Look over there!" This book is definitely not for children.
Do you think parts of the book are too mean-spirited?
Origen: This book would be about five times as long if we included every criticism that could be leveled at the Bush administration. We actually pared it back to just those things that have been destroyed or damaged so severely that it was questionable whether [they] would endure in the form that they had been in before Bush came into office. So the book actually is fairly restrained in that way, we think.
What about your depictions of the Twin Towers and cocaine in the book? Isn't that insensitive and unfair? [In "Goodnight Bush," lines of cocaine are depicted on the nightstand, replacing the brush and comb in "Goodnight Moon." Bush has been dogged by rumors of cocaine use when he was young, but those charges have never been proven, and he denies ever having used the drug].
Origen: On the sensitivity issue, our images of the Twin Towers and other issues are very spare and they have this naked simplicity.
Golan: There's nothing sensationalistic.
The book is about listing, in simple terms, your perceived failures of the Bush administration. But most Americans don't blame the administration for the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers.
Golan: I think it is interesting how the administration has turned one of the greatest national security failings into a heroic moment. And [9/11] absolutely was a failure of the administration to protect the country. At the same time, if you look at the image, we're not making some sort of simple statement. The representation is meant to be very spare and very poignant.
So I'm assuming there hasn't been an official comment from the White House?
Origen: We're just waiting for that one.
Golan: We're waiting for the official Bush administration endorsement. But for us, one of the ultimate expressions of the book would be to see it on C-Span with some senator who reads it into the congressional record to the cameras as a work of poetry during a filibuster.
Will you guys be commemorating the end of the Bush presidency in any other way?
Origen: We are talking about having a "Goodnight Bush"-eve celebration with some live music and miniature golf …
Golan: … called "stay the course" miniature golf.
Do you guys have future books planned?
Origen: We do. We're working on stuff. We could just say that.
Perhaps you guys could rewrite Margaret Wise Brown's entire anthology?
Origen: Umm … Yeah, I think maybe "Runaway Bunny" next?
© 2008
Discuss