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Rhinocrisy

24 November, 2005

Iraq inquiries

I am glad that there will be inquiries and that some more facts will come out about how several countries were conned into a war. But it's pretty annoying that so many of us saw through the lies in the first place -- not just about Iraq but about Afghanistan -- and that the Iraq lies are now being treated as though they were anything close to convincing. It looks to me like a lot of people were fooled because they wanted to be fooled, and now they are looking for someone to blame. But most of them have no one to blame but themselves.

The part that really worries me is that the current round of inquiries seem intended to protect the mindset that assumes that America is basically right in all things, that military force is value-neutral at worst, and that we are only the victims, not the perpetrators, of evil.

This type of denial of responsibility reminds me of the ongoing failure to take responsibility for the genocide of the First Nations and slavery. I think these traumas, which peaked in their intensity long ago, continue to haunt the USA by forming dangerous habits of mind.

More on how the changing zeitgeist isn't much of a change at all: go read Josh and Bob.

Comments

thinking back i realized the moment i knew that this stuff was not going to go well was when there was no hue-and-cry over the timing of the killing - assassination - in late autumn, 2002. you know the story: the drone plane with a missile blows up terrorists in a truck in yemen. just before the midterm election. the general reaction to that was "got 'em" and there no time for political opposition to say anything else without looking like scum. and there was no time because there was such incredibly poor information in the public about options, objectives, and outcomes regarding counter-terrorism. and that meant, no matter how long things went, even in a year nobody could in a position of control could be convinced to show skepticism or to choose another path. 

Posted by chromo


and it was such a terrific sales pitch. "laser-guided intel + ultra-smart-bomb + cyberwarriors = wham-bam-thank-you-saddam!!!" how many people saw that blot in the desert in their heads as they pictured the invasion of iraq, i wonder. 

Posted by chromo


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