Classic Putz

Two weeks after Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech, in May 2003, Chris Hedges gave a speech in which he said

We are embarking on an occupation that, if history is any guide, will be as damaging to our souls as it will be to our prestige and power and security.

He also said

We have forfeited the good will, the empathy the world felt for us after 9-11. We have folded in on ourselves, we have severely weakened the delicate international coalitions and alliances that are vital in maintaining and promoting peace...

and

This is a war of liberation in Iraq, but it is a war now of liberation by Iraqis from American occupation. And if you watch closely what is happening in Iraq, if you can see it through the abysmal coverage, you can see it in the lashing out of the terrorist death squads, the murder of Shiite leaders in mosques, and the assassination of our young soldiers in the streets.

and

We will pay for this, but what saddens me most is that those who will by and large pay the highest price are poor kids from Mississippi or Alabama or Texas who could not get a decent job or health insurance and joined the army because it was all we offered them. For war in the end is always about betrayal, betrayal of the young by the old, of soldiers by politicians, and of idealists by cynics.

and

Because we no longer understand war, we no longer understand that it can all go horribly wrong. We no longer understand that war begins by calling for the annihilation of others but ends if we do not know when to make or maintain peace with self-annihilation.

and

In wartime when we feel threatened, we no longer face death alone but as a group, and this makes death easier to bear. We ennoble self-sacrifice for the other, for the comrade; in short we begin to worship death. And this is what the god of war demands of us.

Putz's reaction? Hedge's speech was "offensive" and he, Hedges, was a "jerk." The cherry on top was this:

Hedges is more proof that claims that The New York Times is a congenial place for people who take the anti-American side aren't just blather.

It's been four years, and yet the self-correcting blogosphere still hasn't produced an apology.