Friday, September 29, 2006

War in October?


If Bush does this, without a Declaration of War by Congress, it will be the final nail in the coffin of American Democracy.

WorkingForChange-War in October?:

Bush positions strike group in Gulf prior to midterm elections

It's an empirical fact that in modern America, two rhetorical devices must be used repeatedly by our president before we can invade another country. First, that country must be conflated with its leader, so that we are bombing one person, not, say, 70 million people. Second, that leader must be demonized. He must be Worse-Than-Hitler, an evildoer, a charter member of the Axis of Evil, a 'devil,' if you will. That stench in the streets of whichever country we've targeted isn't the smell of napalm in the morning. It's sulfur.

Sometimes, our president can meet both propaganda objectives in the same phrase. As when, in the run-up to the Gulf War, Bush Senior would threaten to attack 'Sodom' Hussein.

And, so, I've been holding out the vain hope that the Bush administration is incapable of launching a new war against Iran. How can we nuke Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when most Americans can neither spell not pronounce his name? The Prince of Darkness has many names, but most roll easily off the tongue.

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