My biggest fear about our conquest of Iraq is that it is desensitizing us to
death, destruction and deception.
Rarely a day passes without American forces being killed in Iraq. Yet, as the
steady stream of tragic news seeps out of that country, we appear to be growing
less concerned - not more - in the face of a rising death toll for Americans,
Iraqis and others.
While some believe that, prior to the invasion of Iraq, supporters of the war
abused the phrase "support our troops" mostly as a tool to intimidate those who
were unsure of the invasion's necessity, there must have been at least some
genuine concern on the part of the war's supporters for the safety of our armed
forces.
Today, however, those same war supporters are virtually silent about showing
support for our troops who are tragically being killed and maimed daily. Like so
many others, they have become desensitized to the tragic and unnecessary loss of
our soldiers' lives.
Unfortunately, this desensitization is contributing to the anger and abandonment
that family members of dead soldiers are feeling today.
Many parents like Sue Niederer, whose son was killed in Iraq this month, are
saying, "My son died for absolutely nothing. Seth died for President Bush's
personal vendetta."
Where are the "support our troops" rallies sponsored by Clear Channel
Communications now?
With each day's news of more dead American soldiers or another suicide bombing
that wipes out 50 or 100 Iraqis at once, this unnecessary war is acclimating us
to violent death.
Equally disturbing is our increased tolerance for blatant lies. We all expect
politicians to tell us lies that will later be exposed. However, I am appalled
at our unflinching acceptance of outright fabrications that completely
contradict well-established realities.
On multiple occasions, for example, President Bush stated quite emphatically
that we had to invade because Saddam Hussein refused to allow U.N. weapons
inspectors back into Iraq.
I suppose those television images we saw of U.N. weapons inspectors rummaging
through Hussein's palaces and other locations in Iraq last year were figments of
our collective imagination. Is there any concern at all that President Bush
repeatedly lied about that which we all saw with our own eyes?
Meanwhile, President Bush and others in his administration had the shameless
audacity to accuse those who dared question White House claims about Iraq's
alleged WMD stockpiles of being "revisionist historians." Am I the only one who
sees the colossal irony in this?
On Feb. 12, 2004, former chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix told The
Associated Press he feared that his official reports on behalf of the U.N.
Security Council would be intentionally misrepresented and distorted by
President Bush and his administration to substantiate their belief that Iraq had
WMD: "Many of these politicians have put exclamation marks where we put question
marks," said Blix.
Right on cue, while speaking to troops departing for Iraq, President Bush
proclaimed, "The United Nations Security Council looked at the intelligence and
it saw a danger. We reached a reasonable conclusion that Saddam Hussein was a
danger."
The intentional misrepresentations and outright fabrications from the Bush White
House have been so continuous and voluminous that we've come to tolerate them,
even though we know they are not true.
When one's desire to believe something becomes largely incongruous with reality,
his or her behavior is likely to turn irrational and detrimental. Sustaining
such irrational thinking and behavior requires the rest of us becoming
desensitized to events and actions that should normally trigger outrage or
compassion.
Countless conflicts around the world in recent times have shown us that once
they become desensitized to war, violence and lies, entire societies can behave
in patently irrational and destructive ways.
I worry that the steady flow of violent reports from Iraq, coupled with our
increasing tolerance for outright fabrications, may cause our normal human
sensitivities to fail and trigger a collective loss of touch with our innate
sense of what is right and wrong.
It's happened before. And, unless we are vigilant and restore our human
sensitivities, it may happen again.
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