James Heffernan: What Does the President Mean by "Justice"? - Yahoo! News

James Heffernan: What Does the President Mean by "Justice"? - Yahoo! News: "James Heffernan: What Does the President Mean by 'Justice'? James Heffernan
Wed Jun 14, 8:16 PM ET


On June 9, when asked for his reaction to the death of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, prime mover of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, President Bush declared, 'I'm thrilled that [he] was brought to justice.' The president's euphemism is profoundly revealing. He does not say 'fatally wounded by our bombs' or simply 'killed.' He says 'brought to justice.' While most of us would probably agree that coalition forces were justified in killing Al-Zarqawi, the president's phrase nonetheless prompts a crucial question. Just what does 'justice' mean to this president and his administration?
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The starting point for an answer is his first response--nearly five years ago--to the airborne attacks on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon. Less than one hour after he learned about the attacks, he told Vice President Cheney, 'We're at war . . . somebody's got to pay.' Awkwardly enough, the nineteen perpetrators of the attack had already paid in advance with their lives, and were no longer available for punishment. So the president has made others pay--on the principle that 9/11 justifies massive, indiscriminate, and open-ended retaliation. Speaking from the Oval Office on the evening of 9/11, the president said, 'We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.' Ignoring the simple fact that 'the terrorists who committed these acts' were already dead when he spoke those words, the president thus flaunted his grand disdain for fine distinctions. And like a gia"