War is peace

Sinking to new depths of Orwellian outrageousness, the Bush administration declares that the recent outbreak of violence in Iraq is evidence of the success of the "surge."

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said it showed that the Iraqi government and security forces were now confident enough to take the initiative against Shiite extremists in the southern port of Basra.

"Citizens down there have been living in a city of chaos and corruption for some time and they and the prime minister clearly have had enough of it," he said at a Pentagon press conference.

[...]

"This has just begun this week," he said. "But I think at this early stage, it looks as though it is a by-product of the success of the surge," referring to the sharp hike in US troops in Iraq from earlier last year to quell violence.

Never mind that when violence was down, that was said to be proof of the success of the surge.

Never mind that the stated purpose of the surge was not to embolden the Iraqi government to "take the initiative against Shiite extremists," but to give it time to reach a political reconciliation with them and with the country's Sunni minority.

And never mind that the current round of fighting proves demonstrably that said political reconciliation has not happened.

And never mind that the current round of fighting suggests strongly that the tactical, temporary reduction in violence was due more to the forbearance of the Shiite militias than it was to the presence of additional U.S. forces.

Never mind any of that. All we need to know is that when violence subsides in Iraq, everything is going according to plan. Likewise, when violence explodes in Iraq, everything is going according to plan.

Confused? Don't be. It's just a matter of understanding what the plan is.

You see, the plan has nothing to do with violence among the Iraqi people. The plan has nothing to do with political reconciliation among the Iraqi people. The plan has nothing to do with the Iraqi people.

The plan is about one thing: staying in Iraq.

Whether it's about controlling Iraqi oil, or using Iraq as a staging area for more wars, or simply to spare George W. Bush having to acknowledge that he failed, the occupation has become a self-justifying phenomenon. We are there because we are there.

Bush said this week that we have to remain in Iraq so that the lives lost there will not have been lost in vain. The problem is that as more soldiers die so that those lives will not have been lost in vain, the more soldiers will have to die so that those lives will not have been lost in vain. And so on.

When Bush said that, he came as close as he ever has to articulating the real guiding principle of the occupation of Iraq.

The purpose of the occupation is the occupation.

Once you understand that, you realize it really doesn't matter what actually happens there. To Bush and Cheney and John McCain, winning is staying, and staying is winning.

As McCain put it recently:

"We're succeeding. I don't care what anybody says.

Don't think he doesn't mean that.