DoD Claims Victory in Fallujah

Yeah, I caught that segment on CBS, 22 Nov 2004 too. The carnage of Fallujah is actually this giant torture chamber wherein American hostages were held, now exposed. A hollow find, given said hostages were already dead. News flash: police find empty torture rooms, destroy city in process, kill untold numbers of anonymous bystanders.

Of course the point of such video is to boil the blood and remind viewers why Fallujah deserved to die. The neighbors just didn't know this was going on, heard unexplained screams, "but now it all makes sense, and yes, of course you needed to destroy our city," say our ever-patient Iraqi friends. "I mean, yeah, torture chambers, can't allow 'em" (blood spattered refrigerator, corpses everywhere). "Now we hope those insurgents don't come back -- but they probably will, damn them."

Some viewers eat it up, nod to the music, raise their glass to a job well done. Others drop their forks (clatter), and stare, shaking their heads: since when was CBS just a DoD spin toy? Well, for quite awhile now, if you really want to know.

One way the civilians are fighting back is to say: gee, wouldn't it be nice if they'd reform the goddamn intelligence system as promised so we didn't have to air this kind of stuff at gun point? But, we learn, Rumsfeld is worried about being "handcuffed" (wasn't that the word?). It's a chain of command issue (this was the top story on CBS, same date).

Kinda funny that it's a chain of command issue, given that GWB is lobbying for the new intelligence system (Cheney too), and he's theoretically at the top of this very same chain (commander in chief, right?). Yet members of congress in his own party are blocking the reform, because the DoD (supposedly under the president) says its chain is unhappy with the new prospectus. Curious ("fascinating captain" -- Spock with raised eyebrow).

The problem with torture chambers is all you need is four walls, and lots of cities have those. Michael Kinsley is like flipping out in the LA Times. Like, this is fucking crazy, and yet even John Kerry wasn't promising he'd end it any time soon, reflecting the conflicted state of the voters -- like surely we still have some reason for getting our kids killed over there, beyond capturing Saddam and verifying compliance (couldn't trust Blix with that job, right?).

Invade to liberate, then start razing entire cities, because control must be complete. Resistence is futile. We are borg. You will have elections in January. You will be assimilated.

It's entirely understandable why so many Americans are on their knees right now, praying for intelligence reform.

Related posts:
Pentagon: Public or Private?
Memo to Pundits