Andrea "Andi" Parhamovich, Iraq, Air America Radio, Huffington Post

SHEER HYPOCRISY

As AAR Staffer's Death Is Politicized, Our Critics Silent







Controversy sure pops up in the strangest places sometimes, doesn't it?

Yesterday, your Radio Equalizer was slammed for mentioning the passing of former Air America Radio PR aide Andrea "Andi" Parhamovich in Iraq. The only point of our post was to thank her for her work there.

Yet, our contention that serving in a civilian capacity in Iraq must have been far more rewarding than dealing with Air America's constant crises was met with screams from the left.

Somehow, your Radio Equalizer was supposedly using her passing to further an anti- Air America political agenda.

In response, my point was that Air America Radio is essentially dead and this was merely an assessment of which job was more rewarding: building democracy in Iraq, or defending a company that took money from an inner city charity to pay the salaries of Al Franken, Randi Rhodes and others.


Now, at the Huffington Post, Air America insider - investor Shelly Lewis (think "Progressive Insurance") has used Andi's death to further a political agenda against Condi Rice and the Bush Administration!

And yet, our own critics have nothing to say about this kind of unhinged rhetoric:

As her closest colleague and dear friend Jaime Horn put it, "Andi had a fierce spirit and determination to change the world around her. It led her to a job in politics, and then to work at Air America Radio, but it wasn't enough. She felt a calling. She wanted to be an advocate for democracy, and that calling led her to Iraq."

Andi worked for the International Republican Institute in Iraq before joining the National Democratic Institute, a nonprofit whose mission is "to build political and civic organizations, safeguard elections, and to promote citizen participation, openness and accountability in government" in all parts of the world. NDI advises local politicians and activists on the mechanics of democratic practices and institutions. Its chair is Madeleine Albright.

Andi and three security guards were killed in Baghdad when their convoy was ambushed and attacked in a mostly Sunni neighborhood. She had just completed a workshop on democracy for local Sunni political activists. You can read the terrible details here.

Andi Parhamovich's death is a story that has been told more than three thousand times across America since this horrific war began. That doesn't make it any less painful; it makes it worse.

I can't help but believe, now more than ever, that Barbara Boxer's question to Condi Rice last week was not only not impertinent, it was the single most pertinent question to ask. Who pays the price for the war makers' decisions? Not the war makers, that's for sure. They won't be grieving for loved ones killed in Iraq because they have none there. They will never personally pay the price for their recklessness. Will they ever know when the price is too great for those who do pay it?

The price is too great. It has been too great since the first bomb fell.

Hey guys, this is where the political agenda really lies, not in your Radio Equalizer's take that working at Air America was stressful. Note the total lack of comments condemning what Lewis has written.

Your hypocrisy is simply breathtaking.

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