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30.05.04, 10:25
The Orwellian Olsens
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published April 25, 2004 in the New York Times
It's their reality. We just live and die in it.
In Bushworld, our troops go to war and get killed, but you never see the
bodies coming home.
In Bushworld, flag-draped remains of the fallen are important to revere and
show the nation, but only in political ads hawking the president's leadership
against terror.
In Bushworld, we can create an exciting Iraqi democracy as long as it doesn't
control its own military, pass any laws or have any power.
(…)
In Bushworld, it's fine to take $700 million that Congress provided for the
war in Afghanistan and 9/11 recovery and divert it to the war in Iraq that
you're insisting you're not planning.
In Bushworld, you don't consult your father, the expert in being president
during a war with Iraq, but you do talk to your Higher Father, who can't talk
back to warn you to get an exit strategy or chide you for using Him for
political purposes.
In Bushworld, it's O.K. to run for re-election as the avenger of 9/11, even
as you make secret deals with the Arab kingdom where most of the 9/11
hijackers came from.
In Bushworld, you get to strut around like a tough military guy and paint
your rival as a chicken hawk, even though he's the one who won medals in
combat and was praised by his superior officers for fulfilling all his
obligations.
In Bushworld, it makes sense to press for transparency in Mr. and Mrs. Rival
while cultivating your own opacity.
In Bushworld, you can reign as the antiterror president even after hearing an
intelligence report about Al Qaeda's plans to attack America and then
stepping outside to clear brush.
In Bushworld, those who dissemble about the troops and money it will take to
get Iraq on its feet are patriots, while those who are honest are
patronizingly marginalized.
In Bushworld, they struggle to keep church and state separate in Iraq, even
as they increasingly merge the two in America.
In Bushworld, you can claim to be the environmental president on Earth Day
while being the industry president every other day.
In Bushworld, you brag about how well Afghanistan is going, even though
soldiers like Pat Tillman are still dying and the Taliban are running freely
around the border areas, hiding Osama and delaying elections.
In Bushworld, imperfect intelligence is good enough to knock over Iraq. But
even better evidence that North Korea is building the weapons that Saddam
could only dream about is hidden away.
In Bushworld, the C.I.A. says it can't find out whether there are W.M.D. in
Iraq unless we invade on the grounds that there are W.M.D.
In Bushworld, there's no irony that so many who did so much to avoid the
Vietnam draft have now strained the military so much that lawmakers are
talking about bringing back the draft.
In Bushworld, we're making progress in the war on terror by fighting a war
that creates terrorists.
(…)
In Bushworld, you expound on remaking the Middle East and spreading pro-
American sentiments even as you expand anti-American sentiments by ineptly
occupying Iraq and unstintingly backing Ariel Sharon on West Bank settlements.
In Bushworld, we went to war to give Iraq a democratic process, yet we
disdain the democratic process that causes allies to pull out troops.
In Bushworld, you pride yourself on the fact that your administration does
not leak to the press, while you flood the best-known journalist in
Washington with inside information.
(…)
