Sun rises in east

It’s always disheartening when some liberal political body, long after conservative tocsins have been ringing a frantic warning, suddenly — and too late — realizes that the warning was in fact valid. For example, conservatives kept saying that biofuels would cause food shortages, a thought liberals pooh-poohed. Now that there are actual food shortages, liberals are announcing with shock that biofuels cause food shortages as if it’s a completely new idea, rather than something that should have been obvious. (That’s the point of my post title, by the way. Liberals are slow to grasp the obvious.)

Today’s edition of this “Oh, my God!  The sun actually rises in the east” syndrome, is the report (surprise!) that terrorist groups are using children, not just as targets, but as weapons:

Insurgent groups and militias in Iraq are recruiting children for attacks, according to a United Nations official.

The findings of the UN special representative for children and armed conflict echo concerns expressed by the US military about insurgent tactics.

In some cases children are paid to carry out attacks, the UN envoy, Radhika Coomaraswamy, told the BBC.

Last month, the US released footage of what it said was al-Qaeda propaganda showing children being trained.

The US says children are being taught how to use guns and carry out kidnappings in addition to other terrorist activities.

You can read the rest of the story here.

I guess I should be glad that the anti-American cadre has finally figured out yet another obvious thing, but frankly I just find the whole thing disheartening.  These people, people with a lot of real power and a lot of media power, always figure things out only after the narrative has already been pushed so far in one direction that America never recovers from the ugly propaganda aimed against it.  Likewise, these belated realizations of the obvious also spring up only when the facts on the ground have become so extreme that a situation that could easily have been resolved in the beginning is a logistical nightmare in the end.