Ink On Their Fingers

Blood On Their Hands

Writing on his blog at the MSNBC News website, reporter David Shuster offers this assessment of the ink-stained finger stunt pulled by some members of Congress during the State of the Union speech last week:

“To me, it was surreal to see the members of Congress arrive in their nice cars and motorcades... and then walk into the house chamber wearing their fancy suits and ties. It was even more surreal to see that some lawmakers, in this incredibly secure and safe cocoon, had stained their own index fingers.

The courage of ordinary Iraqis last Sunday was unmistakable. They were literally risking their lives by standing in line to vote and by getting their fingers stamped with ink. The members of Congress who stained their own fingers and wagged them proudly for the cameras were an affront to that courage. And in my eyes, those lawmakers diminished the true significance of what happened last weekend in Iraq. The fact is, few members of Congress have a son or daughter serving in the U.S. military. And few lawmakers have actually ever served themselves.”

I can’t help but wonder if maybe more than a few Iraqis who have lost family members to this war didn’t see the blood on the hands of the U.S. politicians instead of just ink.