No dark sarcasm in the war room

It seems hard to believe that even though a substantial majority of Americans think our Crusade in Iraq is misguided, mismanaged and the product of deliberate deception, that people still feel compelled to tell us that our troops are there to “fight for our freedoms” and to imply that a recognition of reality is unpatriotic because it might demoralize those who were sent there under false pretenses to fight for corporate greed and the fortunes of the Bush family.

Watching Adam Buckman’s “Patriot Act:” last night, I was struck by the mocking laughter Drew Carey got from the troops by mentioning that his girlfriend was a Democrat.  Of course this was filmed in 2003 when there may have been a few dummies who still thought that those elusive weapons might be hidden somewhere and a few more who thought that Bush had been telling the truth about the intelligence and the Democrats were all pansies and cowards.  In fact Saddam himself was still on the run at the time and the situation was not quite as deadly and seemingly hopeless as it is now.  The commentary of the USO tour lamented that someone had been killed the day they left Baghdad.  50 people died there today, including a CBS news crew and rioting in Kabul killed 45 more and destroyed a CARE facility.

Cary could still be unashamedly cynical about critics before Abu Ghraib and the torture scandals, the murder of innocent women and children by Marines at Haditha. He could still buy into the idea that things were really progressing nicely but the story was being twisted by the evil liberals of the press.  The lies, the cover-ups, the spying on citizens, the illegal searches, the massive misappropriations of funds, the exploding debt, the waste and corruption – these were easier to ignore 3 years ago; easier to distract from by accusations of not supporting the troops.

But this is now. This is when Bush has the support of a quarter to a third of the public; when indictments are coming out of the weeds faster than hand raised quail at a Wyoming ranch.  Where is the protest?  Where is the outrage? Where are the hundreds of thousands in the street calling for some accountability?

I guess Memorial day is not the time to remember the lessons of past wars, it’s a day to drink beer, watch the Hondas go around the oval, worry about Bird Flu and Rapture and praise the latest herd of cannon fodder while not giving a damn how many of them died because Bush lied. It’s certainly not a day to give a damn about those ungrateful Iraqis who don’t understand how great we are and why we need a permanent military presence on their soil. Those dumb Arabs who don’t think it’s funny to watch GI’s sprawling on Saddam’s throne and using their monuments and swimming pools and hotels and public facilities as recreation centers while they sit in the dark and the heat and go hungry.  Instead let’s pay homage to Toyota, to Budweiser and freedom. Anything less would be giving aid to the enemy. Anything less would mean the terrorists won.