Smoother than G. W. Bush, slicker, and of course smarter, this lying president will not likely be goofed up in buckled and pocketed flight gear, and he will be accompanied by the mandatory American flag on a sturdy stand rather than a blatant Mission Accomplished banner. But the substance will be the same: we did it; don’t worry, don’t doubt, don’t question. The big lie will adhere to us with a greasy butter of calming reassurance.
Here is why this story is a lie. The singular event upon which it is hinged is that the number of men and women under arms in our name in that abused and beaten and corrupted nation has fallen below fifty thousand. Like the Dow-Jones Industrial average falling below or rising above ten thousand, there is some magic apparently attached to this number, a significance not inherent in one a thousand higher and a weight unknown to a number a hundred lower. But here’s what we know, though we may prefer to not confront our knowledge: the beat goes on.
Our fifty-thousand-scant soldiers will have guns and ammunition. They will be shot at and they will shoot. Some will die; others will be wounded, crippled, maimed, burned, ruined. They will be “trainers” and “advisers,” not “combatants,” and we thank you for the distinction, Mr. President.
We will continue to keep tens of thousands of mercenaries in country. We call them “contractors.”
We will maintain many large military bases, well-equipped with bullets and bombs, in Iraq, and are even as we hear the news tonight expanding and modernizing them.
We will run as many special operations, secret operations, undercover operations as the CIA and military intelligence types think proper. We will assassinate, we will kidnap, we will imprison and we or our agents will torture.
We will send billions of dollars a year to Iraq for many more years. Much of this will be wasted. A good deal of it will be used to kill. Among the dead will be women and children and non-combatant men. We will not hear much about these deaths from our president or Public Radio or Fox News or CNN.
And so it goes. And so it goes. And so it goes. And so it goes. As it has so often gone before.
Tuesday 31 August 2010
Is a Dream a Lie If It Don't Come True, Or Is It Something Worse? ☀
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