Keep your eye on the
ball here, folks
By Molly Ivins,
COMMENTARY, Star-Telegram from the Web, December 25, 2005
AUSTIN, TX -- It is clear we
will need to practice hard on our credulity in the future just to get a grasp on
how dumbfounding the entire Iraq war is. We need credulity up to the
Wonderland White Queen's standards.
For starters, we find the Pentagon investigating itself over the secret military
practice of paying to plant news stories in Iraqi papers. Now, since it's
a secret practice, I don't know if the Pentagon will be able to find out much,
but the way it works is U.S. military personnel, also known as soldiers, write
"news" stories full of reassuring news.
National Public Radio reports that the stories are filled with hyperbole and
pro-U.S. rhetoric. One story written by the military and obtained by NPR
dated Nov. 22 says military leaders are succeeding in stopping terrorists.
It continues, "They have proven this as quiet slowly begins again to settle on
the streets of western Iraq." At the time, insurgents were staging more
than 700 attacks per week -- up from 150 a week the previous year.
That this might not be the shrewdest move seems to have occurred to some.
Retired Rear Adm. Stephen Pietropaoli, who was head of the Navy's public affairs
department, told NPR, "When people find out that what they've been peddled isn't
what they thought it was, they tend to take a dim view of every other thing that
that government says."
The stories written by the U.S. military are handed over to a defense contractor
called the Lincoln Group, run by young Republican political operatives.
They, in turn, pay local Iraqi newspapers and TV stations to run the stories.
In an attempt to justify this, former Army spokesman Charles Krohn told NPR:
"I don't think there's any need for secrecy, but I think it's pretty well
understood that it's the custom in that country to pay journalists and to pay
newspapers. And certainly, I think the record that Saddam has done this
and others do it is pretty well established."
Isn't it nice that we're following in Saddam's footsteps?
Haven't the conservatives been saying all along what we needed was the media to
report the good, dandy, better, best news from Iraq? Turns out we've
actually been paying for it, and look what a difference it has made: "Good
News Stories Stop 750 Attacks a Day!"
We are further tested by the president's improbable proclamation that he has the
right to ignore the laws and Constitution of this country because he is a
wartime president. Actually, that's a real problem. We can't declare
war because we haven't been attacked by any government, territory or military.
If Bush were a different kind of president, they might have gotten away with it
right after 9-11. People were frightened, and there's always that fantasy
that somehow Daddy Will Take Care of Us If We Do Exactly What He Tells Us.
But George W. Bush is not a daddy president, he's the Testy Kid -- Mr. Snippy.
Every question is lèse-majesté to the Snappy Prince, and a follow-up question is
outright treason. He sees no reason why he should answer to us.
Attention, Americans: We have, under the Constitution, a strong executive,
noticeably more so than in other democracies. The whole history of the
struggle for freedom is about how to curb and balance the powers of the
executive.
The United States of America has more than 200 years of experience with these
questions, and you know what? George W. Bush is not the smartest guy to
come along in more than 200 years.
Be cautious. Be very cautious. Do not endorse authoritarianism out
of knee-jerk partisan impulse -- this shoe will be on the other foot eventually.
Molly Ivins, based in Austin, writes for Creators Syndicate
5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045.
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