Human rights.
Roger Normand reflects on the state of human rights in the world, writing in the Nation. (*) He believes human rights are in a sorry state, and presents some arguments to that effect.
He just left out Iraq for some reason. I guess 270 mass graves and 400,000 dead Iraqis don’t count. The deposing of Saddam’s regime must have had some positive impact on world human rights. At least, that’s what I think.
Normand says Bush is trying to kill the idea of human rights. If Normand is right, Bush is trying to kill off the idea of human rights by upholding human rights.
What matters to Normand is not what actually happens in Iraq, but what it represents. This is a mystical formulation and is unsuitable for critical inquiry.
Update: 18 December 2003. Michael Totten says it better. (†)