"I had to destroy the judiciary in order to save it."

In 1968, during America's Vietnam War, Bến Tre the capital city of Bến Tre Province, in the Mekong Delta area of southern Vietnam, was bombed and shelled by the Americans regardless of civilian casualties.

Bến Tre today

When reports of the horrific assault and horrendous civilian casualties were aired, many including American people questioned the nebulous war aims of the United States in Vietnam.

After the terrible slaughter, NZ reporter Peter Arnett reported a United States major saying during an interview what had become the most notoriously idiotic statement of the Vietnam War, to wit:

"We had to destroy the village in order to save it."

[Wikipedia tells us that Peter Arnett was awarded the 1966 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting for his work in Vietnam from 1962 to 1975, mostly reporting for the Associated Press. In 1994, Arnett's book Live from the Battlefield: From Vietnam to Baghdad, 35 Years in the World's War Zones was published. In March 1997, Arnett interviewed Osama bin Laden]

That moronic statement "We had to destroy the village in order to save it" was a succinct reflection of the American idiotic clueless-ness of what and why they were in Vietnam fighting against Vietnamese.

In Malaysia today, we relive that same circumstance as the Yanks when we were informed of the most idiotic unbelievable promise from Mahathir in our political history which would be akin to a typical paraphrased Mahathir-speak:

"I had to destroy the judiciary in order to save it."

See today's The Malaysian Insight's Dr Mahathir panned on social media for promise of judicial reforms which compelled a reader to remark:

“Orang yang menghancurkan badan kehakiman masa krisis 1988 nak janji kukuhkan badan kehakiman.”  

(The person who destroyed the judiciary during the 1988 crisis now promises to strengthen the judiciary)

“Joke of the year, bila nak undi, semua benda manis dan janji langit dan bumi.""

(Joke of the year, when it comes to votes, all sweet nothings and promises of heaven and earth)