Something Eli said the other day has been bugging me when I read news articles about the Iraqi resistance, because I never really noticed it before.
With MacWorld approaching, I’m reminded of the famous Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field. But Jobs has got nothing on the U.S. and Israeli governments, and the Reality Distortion Field they cast on the American corporate media.
Virtually every single attack by Iraqi insurgents these days is heralded in the media as “an attempt to derail the upcoming elections.” Not once have I heard an attack described as “an attempt to expel the American occupiers” or, perhaps less provocatively, as “an attempt to weaken the American resolve to continue their occupation of Iraq.” Even today, when there were a series of attacks not on elected officials or candidates but Iraqi police and National Guard, a Reuters article links the attacks to bin Laden’s message about the elections yesterday, notwithstanding the fact that bin Laden simply called for a boycott of the elections, and did not call for a “holy war” on elections on Reuters claims.
I came across this perfect example of where this is coming from today :
Insurgents tried to ram a truck with half a ton of explosives into a U.S. military post in the northern city of Mosul on Thursday then ambushed reinforcements in a huge gunbattle in which 25 rebels and one American soldier were killed. Warplanes fired missiles and strafed gunmen during the fight.
The assault on the outpost, which U.S. soldiers finally repulsed, appeared to be better coordinated than past attacks, with guerrillas apparently pulling out their strongest assaults in an effort to derail Jan. 30 elections, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Hastings said.
“The terrorists are growing more desperate in their attempts to derail the elections and they’re trying to put it all on the line and give it all they can,” Hastings said.
Right. It isn’t the occupation, it’s the elections. That’s why they’re attacking the US and anyone collaborating with the US. After the “elections,” which the US has already admitted will do nothing to stop the resistance, what will the next excuse be? I can already hear it. “They just don’t want Iraq to have a constitution,” they’ll say as they continue to occupy the country, and Americans and Iraqis continue to die. We just go from one Mission Accomplished moment to the next.