Car bombs killed 365 Iraqi civilians during the first three and a half weeks of April, 32 more than the previous month when Bush’s troop surge went into effect. That isn’t stopping the administration from painting a rosy picture in Iraq, because according to Bush, those deaths simply don’t count.
“If the standard of success is no car bombings or suicide bombings, we have just handed those who commit suicide bombings a huge victory,” President Bush said in a recent interview, attempting to rationalize why car bombings are no longer included in civilian casualty estimates.?
The last thing we want to hand insurgents is a huge victory, but why stop there? If counting car bombings is going to help the enemy, why not stop counting other things?
Maybe we should stop counting U.S. military personnel killed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Taking away the enemy’s most effective weapon would be a huge victory for the America people. If we pretend it’s not happening, the enemy is sure to lose heart and abandon the tactic.
And since victory is now defined by how well we can keep the enemy (and ourselves) in the dark, maybe we should start concealing the fact that the commander in chief, aka, “the commander guy,” puts politics before national security.
We are, after all, talking about an administration that revealed the identity of a CIA Agent (Valerie Plame) for purely political purposes. Plame’s identity was exposed after her husband, Joseph Wilson, debunked the Bush administration’s claim that Iraq was attempting to purchase uranium from Niger to create weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).
And what was Plame’s job prior to the administration blowing her cover? She was a part of the CIA’s Counterproliferation?Division. In other words, she was assigned to keep track of WMDs in the Middle East. That’s right, in order to exact political revenge the administration blew the cover of someone whose job was to prevent WMDs from falling into the wrong hands. And yet millions of American’s still believe that Bush is the right man to keep us secure. Let’s conceal that fact from the enemy as well.
Eliminating competent people from critically important civil service and military positions isn’t the end of the story it’s the beginning.
Imagine if the enemy finds out that those positions are being filled with sycophants whose only job is promote what is politically expedient for the Bush administration.
Take for example the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the agency responsible for helping American citizens during catastrophic events like Hurricane Katrina.
The failure of FEMA during Katrina is common knowledge. A lesser-known fact is that then FEMA director, Michael Brown, a Bush appointee, was completely unqualified for the position.
Prior to accepting his position, Brown was the judges and stewards commissioner for the Arabian Horse Association (AHA). cAccording to AHA’s Web site, the association is dedicated “to meet the breeding, competitive and recreational interests of all Arabian horse owners.”
Is there is a Republican voter out there who can explain to us how this qualifies someone to become director of FEMA? Don’t worry, we promise to conceal your letter from the enemy.
Perhaps the biggest secret we should keep is America’s fear of examining the world and ourselves honestly.
Everyday, in the name of national security, we become more like the boogieman we’ve created to embody all we consider evil.
Just look how far we’ve come. Torture used to be the tool of the enemy, but no more. America used to pride itself as a nation of law and justice, but now citizens can be abducted and tried using evidence sealed in a manila envelope. Our privacy has been eliminated by virtue of few signing statements.
Yes, the biggest secret is the one we must conceal best. Success no longer resembles its dictionary definition.
By disdaining the virtues that set America apart from the rest of the world, we become what we profess to fight. Slowly but surely, we become the enemy.

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