What A Difference 15 Years (and a different colored President) Makes.
(Rachel Maddow, this one is for you... It's worthy of at LEAST four PEN TAPS!)
With the right wing hissyfit over the Iranian incident in full bloom, I thought it might be fun to remember a similar incident that happened during the long and illustrious foreign policy career of George "Bungles the Clown" Bush.
September 11, 2001 has pretty much erased all memory of George W. Bush's Presidency before the right wing noise machine started selling him as a decisive, tough guy leader. But this happened in April 2001.
April 1, 2001: A U.S. Navy EP-3 spy plane was flying over a disputed island in the South China Sea, and challenging territory claimed by the Chinese. Chinese fighter jets, as usual, were harassing the much slower, propeller-driven plane, when one of them got too close and hit it, knocking out one of its engines. It was forced to land on the Chinese island of Hainan. The fighter jet crashed, killing the pilot.
The Chinese held the plane and 24-member crew as hostages for 10 days, demanding that the USA write a letter of apology for A) violating their territory, and B) causing the death of their pilot (which they didn't do). The USA, under "Bush The Decider" actually DID issue a letter of apology, and the EP-3 crew was released.
*Ahem* Where was the right-wing freak out about Bush being a cowardly appeaser? Or over his having apparently CAUSED the incident by being a weak leader? I don't even remember Democrats or liberals saying anything like that.
Just a little perspective. (Sorry about the quality.)
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