Ottawa

Dept. of novel arguments

Chris Selley noticed this one, from Rick Salutin’s column today:

This week, too, our commanding general in Kandahar, Jonathan Vance, said we would “demand honesty, integrity and good performance from all levels of government or we won’t stay.” But that’s pretty much what the Taliban delivered and why Afghans grudgingly tolerated them before we went in.

Actually, I’m struck by how the rest of the paragraph doesn’t make Rick sound less like a profoundly addled fellow typing distractedly while he keeps one eye on the stove:

So what was the purpose, besides changing the image and role of our military? Perhaps these guys have spent too much time at Fort Hood and seen Patton once too often. Maybe they should just be issued copies of the hot new video game, Call of Duty , without needing to stand in line.

In other words, the part Selley quotes actually benefit from being taken out of context…