Friday, May 07, 2004
I've been reading half bemusedly about Rumsfeld being thrown to the lions by his superiors. It seems that he is to be the scapegoat for this latest embarrassment for the Bush administration, just as Rice was the scapegoat just a few weeks ago for the 9/11 security failures.
I find this morbidly amusing, because by concentrating obsessively on which individual is to blame for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, the American media dismisses the real issue: whether such an abusive occupation of Iraq is justified. By focusing exclusively on which official is to blame, the media fails to address the more fundamental questions which must arise about American policy in Iraq, as a result of this "information leak". Of course, glossing over the central issues and dwelling on the unimportant ones is a very basic tactic in propaganda. But I think it is not hard to see, after filtering out the BS, that the abuse of the hapless Iraqi prisoners by the American soldiers merely reflects a fatal mistake in policy; the mistake of occupying by brute force a people whose culture and religion American soldiers have nothing but contempt for, as a result of countless years of relentless brainwashing by a racist, anti-Arab, anti-Muslim propaganda machine (the American media).
It may very well be true that Rumsfeld is a screw-up. So what. Let's not forget here what the real issue is: the ongoing suffering of the Iraqi people under occupation. And that is a result of policy.
I find this morbidly amusing, because by concentrating obsessively on which individual is to blame for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, the American media dismisses the real issue: whether such an abusive occupation of Iraq is justified. By focusing exclusively on which official is to blame, the media fails to address the more fundamental questions which must arise about American policy in Iraq, as a result of this "information leak". Of course, glossing over the central issues and dwelling on the unimportant ones is a very basic tactic in propaganda. But I think it is not hard to see, after filtering out the BS, that the abuse of the hapless Iraqi prisoners by the American soldiers merely reflects a fatal mistake in policy; the mistake of occupying by brute force a people whose culture and religion American soldiers have nothing but contempt for, as a result of countless years of relentless brainwashing by a racist, anti-Arab, anti-Muslim propaganda machine (the American media).
It may very well be true that Rumsfeld is a screw-up. So what. Let's not forget here what the real issue is: the ongoing suffering of the Iraqi people under occupation. And that is a result of policy.
