contrasts

Earlier this week Orrin Judd noted something curious on the official Kedwards campaign site: BREAKING NEWS!: CONDI ANNOUNCES 24TH IRAQ RATIONALE.

Following this breathless headline are two dozen quotes from Bush Administration officials—from the President on down—as to why Gulf War II was not only justifiable, but in our national interest. Apparently, the Masters of Nuance cannot wrap their elitist heads about the notion that there are, in fact, many reasons why the removal of Saddam was a Good Thing. The Kerry campaign doesn't even attempt to rebut the arguments; they merely list them.

Now: some of the quotations taken alone are not very persuasive. “Because we can” (no. 12), for instance, sounds rather arrogant sans context—although I consider the statement perfectly reasonable as part of a larger argument, as did NYT columnist Thomas Friedman, at least once upon a time. Nonetheless, the complete list is a public service offered by the Kedwards campaign, albeit not in the manner that the Democrats had intended.

But for the still unconvinced, there's this:

Babies found in mass Iraqi grave

A mass grave being excavated in a north Iraqi village has yielded evidence that Iraqi forces executed women and children under Saddam Hussein.

US-led investigators have located nine trenches in Hatra containing hundreds of bodies believed to be Kurds killed during the repression of the 1980s.

The skeletons of unborn babies and toddlers clutching toys are being unearthed, the investigators said. […]

The victims are believed to be Kurds killed in 1987-88, their bodies bulldozed into the graves after being summarily shot dead.

One trench contains only women and children while another contains only men.

The body of one woman was found still clutching a baby. The infant had been shot in the back of the head and the woman in the face.

“The youngest foetus we have was 18 to 20 foetal weeks,” said US investigating anthropologist P Willey.

“Tiny bones, femurs - thighbones the size of a matchstick.” […]

Mr Kehoe said that work to uncover graves around Iraq, where about 300,000 people are thought to have been killed during Saddam Hussein's regime, was slow as experienced European investigators were not taking part.

The Europeans, he said, were staying away as the evidence might be used eventually to put Saddam Hussein to death.

More here.

So the question for Mr. Kerry is twofold:

Senator, where is your sense of outrage? And do you find the moral cowardice of our European “allies” something to be emulated?