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When in doubt, use a cliché. "The best way to honor the sacrifice of our fallen troops is to complete the mission and win the war on terror."¹ So goes the new Bushevik mantra. It's entirely a lie, but it appears again and again in broadcasts because it sounds so daring and melodious and is designed, really, to stop reason in its tracks. It says several things: one, the "mission" (to win the war on terror) is a winnable task; two, it's the purpose for sending our troops into Iraq; three, dead soldiers are honored when the purpose for which they died is achieved.

So here's where the bogus mantra all falls apart—and yet why it's hummed in White House halls. The "war on terror" cannot be won merely by handing-over an American-branded democracy in Iraq, so it's no more a winnable task than the "war on drugs," the "war on poverty," the war on this-and-that, especially if the myriad battles that have to be fought are insurmountable. The purpose for sending US-led coalition forces into Iraq is unknown. I know what American proponents say was the purpose and what the Busheviks say was the purpose and what those opposing the war in Iraq was the purpose for sending our troops there, and yet still we have to ask Why?² But that is here a major irrelevancy. Dead soldiers are honored through their sacrifice while fulfilling their duty, not in the purpose of the larger frame in which they were asked to die. To ask for a different honor for them, something more burnished, is to demand that each be a hero, a paladin, a legend, a champion, a conqueror ... should we say, an American idol. The inability of this administration to see each soldier as a human being—a son, a daughter, a father—is the real criminal behavior in all of this, for it aims to change them into icons, which always point to something beyond themselves. The Bushevik administration swims with myths in a pool of its own manufacture.

It may well be that Scooter Libby is falling on his sword for the vice president, but his lie to Fitzgerald's grand jury had to come easily from his lips, as he read from the script written in the Oval Office.

1.  President's Radio Address, October 29, 2005. Compare this with the president's speech at Fort Bragg on June 28, 2005.
2.  "Cartoonist Writes Names of All 2,000 Soldiers Killed in Iraq," Democracy Now! "As the US military death toll in Iraq surpassed 2,000 dead this week, Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich marked the tragic milestone by hand-writing the name of each one in his Wednesday editorial cartoon. Together, their names spell out the question: WHY? The Pulitzer Prize-winning Luckovich told Editor and Publisher, "I was trying to think of a way to make the point that this whole war is such a waste. But I also wanted to honor the troops I believe our government wrongly sent to Iraq." Luckovich says he spent 12 or 13 hours this past weekend writing in most of the names—roughly in the order of when the soldiers died. The paper's publisher and various editors were also involved in the effort. When it looked like the names might not be readable, the editors gave permission for the cartoon to be published much larger than Luckovich's drawings usually appear in the Journal-Constitution." See the cartoon at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, or the larger version, with the names readable, as a PDF file.

Calling all Methodists!  With 982 names now affixed to the document, only 18 more signatures are needed to get the formal Letter of Complaint sent to the United Methodist Church (UMC) leadership in a move by concerned Methodists to discipline two of their more prominent members—George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. See my most recent blog on the United Methodists Calling for Accountable Leadership petition. You can also get further details about the project at TheyMustRepent.com. If you know a member of the United Methodist Church, please direct their attention to this petition.