Unreality Bites
Monday. The death of hope.
The Washington Post reported yesterday that the W administration is shedding "unreality" that dominated its Iraq invasion strategy. Only a couple of months ago Dick Cheney was talking about the "last throes" of the insurgency and this was over two years after our mission was accomplished! But as Sen. Chuck (Vietnam Vet) Hagel (R-Reality) put it best, "Things aren't getting better; they're getting worse. The White House is completely disconnected from reality," Hagel told U.S. News. "It's like they're just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we're losing in Iraq."
Unfortunately for the "make it up as they go along" crowd reality payback is a bitch. And for the "I told you so crowd," led by The Daily Curmudgeon it's another reason why I should be in charge of more than just a sparsely read blog.
"The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society in which the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say." Once again the cowards, bullies and crusaders don't have the decency to identify themselves. "What we expected to achieve was never realistic given the timetable or what unfolded on the ground," said a senior official involved in policy since the 2003 invasion. "We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning."
What we expected to achieve? Speak for yourself. Reality might be kryptonite to W but not for the rest of us.
"We set out to establish a democracy, but we're slowly realizing we will have some form of Islamic republic," said another U.S. official familiar with policymaking from the beginning, who like some others interviewed would speak candidly only on the condition of anonymity. "That process is being repeated all over."
Another Islamic republic. Bravo. Well done. Four more years! Four more years!
What you are listening to though, through the pages of the Washington Post, is W's exit strategy. It resembles "run for your life" but it will pause long enough to have many patriotic self-congratulating ceremonies. I now fully understand what the phrase "pin a medal on yourself" means.
In episode #56 of the original Star Trek, Spectre of the Gun, (everything can be explained with Star Trek) the concepts of reality and unreality are explored. Only when Mr. Spock understands that the bullets cannot kill the crew as long as they believe them to be imaginary are they saved. If only our troops in Iraq sent into their reality could avail themselves of Star Trek reality then maybe they wouldn't have to bleed and die for W's unreality.
BONUS POSTING: The Miami Herald reports that just before the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, an internal CIA memo declared the mission "unachievable." The document, a 300-page internal CIA history, reveals for the first time that the architects themselves foresaw failure during a Nov. 15, 1960, meeting to prepare a briefing for President-elect John F. Kennedy and that they recorded it in a memo. BY the Curmudgeon's calculations it will be around 2048 when we read the memos on the "unachievable" mission in Iraq. But it sure did get a bunch of Republicans elected.
The Washington Post reported yesterday that the W administration is shedding "unreality" that dominated its Iraq invasion strategy. Only a couple of months ago Dick Cheney was talking about the "last throes" of the insurgency and this was over two years after our mission was accomplished! But as Sen. Chuck (Vietnam Vet) Hagel (R-Reality) put it best, "Things aren't getting better; they're getting worse. The White House is completely disconnected from reality," Hagel told U.S. News. "It's like they're just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we're losing in Iraq."
Unfortunately for the "make it up as they go along" crowd reality payback is a bitch. And for the "I told you so crowd," led by The Daily Curmudgeon it's another reason why I should be in charge of more than just a sparsely read blog.
"The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society in which the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say." Once again the cowards, bullies and crusaders don't have the decency to identify themselves. "What we expected to achieve was never realistic given the timetable or what unfolded on the ground," said a senior official involved in policy since the 2003 invasion. "We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning."
What we expected to achieve? Speak for yourself. Reality might be kryptonite to W but not for the rest of us.
"We set out to establish a democracy, but we're slowly realizing we will have some form of Islamic republic," said another U.S. official familiar with policymaking from the beginning, who like some others interviewed would speak candidly only on the condition of anonymity. "That process is being repeated all over."
Another Islamic republic. Bravo. Well done. Four more years! Four more years!
What you are listening to though, through the pages of the Washington Post, is W's exit strategy. It resembles "run for your life" but it will pause long enough to have many patriotic self-congratulating ceremonies. I now fully understand what the phrase "pin a medal on yourself" means.
In episode #56 of the original Star Trek, Spectre of the Gun, (everything can be explained with Star Trek) the concepts of reality and unreality are explored. Only when Mr. Spock understands that the bullets cannot kill the crew as long as they believe them to be imaginary are they saved. If only our troops in Iraq sent into their reality could avail themselves of Star Trek reality then maybe they wouldn't have to bleed and die for W's unreality.
BONUS POSTING: The Miami Herald reports that just before the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, an internal CIA memo declared the mission "unachievable." The document, a 300-page internal CIA history, reveals for the first time that the architects themselves foresaw failure during a Nov. 15, 1960, meeting to prepare a briefing for President-elect John F. Kennedy and that they recorded it in a memo. BY the Curmudgeon's calculations it will be around 2048 when we read the memos on the "unachievable" mission in Iraq. But it sure did get a bunch of Republicans elected.
posted by Crankyboy at 9:50 AM
3 Comments:
That Star Trek episode of course was informed by the Ghost Shirt movement that convinced many young Sioux the bullets woudn't hurt them if they believed, but it still works for the Republicans. Their ghost shirts, decorated with pictures of Reagan, are still protecting them from reality as long as they can claim that everything that is, isn't and everything that isn't, is.
Hey, Fogg...I that was the Ghost Dance movement (where they wore Ghost Shirts) that got those Lakota boys killed. But Dancing Shirts aside, great blogs both of you. Stumbled my way here via Silent Cacophony. Keep up the good work. I think I'll link to you both!
We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning.
I'm still trying to absorb the unreality of this admission. The "beginning" was now years ago! Whatever hallucinogenic drugs these people are on, I guess I need to get me some. Sheesh.
Post a Comment
<< Home