Twisted Logic of a Twisted Empire

U.S.bully on the brink of war

Revolutionary Worker #1185, February 2, 2003, posted at rwor.org

This month, nine weeks into the UN inspections of Iraq, the team led by Hans Blix documented 16 empty, forgotten warheads from short-range rockets. The White House spokesman tried to claim this military scrap was a "smoking gun"--a cause for war--but the rest of the world did not agree.

As January 27 approached, the UN inspection teams prepared their formal reports to the United Nations. And ruling class "wisemen" complained that this administration isn't doing a good enough job "selling" its explanations for war. So voila, here comes the White House inviting the world to "jump down the rabbit hole" into Alice's Wonderland.

In a major PR offensive, spokespeople for the Bush administration argue that if inspectors find nothing in Iraq then that too is a cause for war!

Here is how the argument goes: The U.S. insists Iraq has weapons of mass destruction-- lots of them. They say that it is not the job of inspectors to find such weapons, but it is Iraq's job to produce them.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said on TV: "The idea was not that inspectors would look for a needle in a haystack, but that Saddam Hussein would show them where the needle was in the haystack."

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice wrote ( New York Times, Jan. 23): "Has Saddam Hussein finally decided to voluntarily disarm? Unfortunately, the answer is a clear and resounding no. Countries that decide to disarm lead inspectors to weapons and production sites, answer questions before they are asked, state publicly and often the intention to disarm and urge their citizens to cooperate."

So, this government argument goes, if inspectors have found no banned weapons, no secret stockpiles or labs--this only shows Iraq is being dishonest and hiding them.

Let's review the twisted logic here: U.S. officials argue that if UN inspectors find anything (no matter how small), that is proof that the U.S. should go ahead soon and conquer Iraq. And if inspectors don't find anything, it is also proof that the U.S. should go ahead and conquer Iraq. It would not be surprising to hear Rumsfeld quip at his next press conference: "Heads the U.S. invades, tails you get invaded."

Such is the sick logic of empire...a mix of Kafka's surreal trials, George Orwell's doublethink, and Catch-22. This has no connection with reality--other than the reality of empire-building.

Key to this whole argument is the claim that the U.S. government knows there are massive hidden stockpiles in Iraq. When asked to provide evidence, Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said on Decem- ber 5, "The President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense would not assert as plainly and bluntly as they have that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction if it was not true, and if they did not have a solid basis for saying it."

In other words: "The president must know something, trust him." This is a particularly risky argument when it comes to this particular president. But millions of people are profoundly disturbed that the government is pressing ahead to war on such a flimsy and unbelievable basis. And in the face of widespread mistrust and opposition--when hundreds of thousands are taking the streets--the government is more and more resorting to the argument that "war is inevitable, so get with it."