I think I like the presidential candidate for the post of US secretary of defense more and more. A man who is able to use metaphor so fluently... but judge for yourself:
The Embassy of India chided secretary of defense nominee Chuck Hagel late Monday for suggesting in a previously unreleased 2011 speech that India has “for many years” sponsored terrorist activities against Pakistan in Afghanistan.I think that the Indian comrades simply misunderstood the metaphoric exercise, brilliantly performed by Mr Hagel in the above quote. To give you a simpler example of same, here comes a story from 1982 - the time of Israeli invasion of Lebanon, when both Syrian and Israeli armies were holding positions in different parts of the country.
“India has over the years financed problems for Pakistan” in Afghanistan, Hagel said during a 2011 address on Afghanistan at Oklahoma’s Cameron University, according to video of the speech obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
A Lebanese citizen approaches an Israeli officer:
- Sir, few minutes ago a Swiss soldier robbed me. He put a gun to my head and then took my wallet and my Syrian watch.
(A silent period of incomprehension follows), then the officer catches up:
- Oh, you wanted to say that a Syrian soldier robbed you and took your wallet and your Swiss watch, right?
- Just remember that it's you who said it, sir!
Well, somebody is definitely fomenting trouble for other people in Afghanistan. Whether it's India or Pakistan or some other party Mr Hagel refrained from mentioning for some hidden, but definitely valid, reasons, is up to you, my dear reader(s).
As for Chuck Hagel: my sincere respect*...
(*) Unless, of course, like many other politicos before him and, no doubt, many other after him, Chuck Hagel simply doesn't know where the heck all these places really are, what is the connection between them and why the heck people keep asking him all these confusing questions? Instead of voting "aye" and be done with all that...