by Steve Hutcheson

Created on: January 21, 2008

The Battle for Honesty

The war in Iraq is mired in controversy, a discombobulating pool of mixed messages, falsehoods and fanciful posturing. Earlier pronouncements as to the reasons for being there in Iraq uttered prior to the invasion of Iraq now after some years, an enormous cost and an unacceptable casualty rate, have been proven erroneous and in many cases in fact, downright false. The discussion no longer looks at these facts, for the most part been swept under the carpet as historically insignificant, but now concentrates on how best to extricate the military from the scene and leave a lasting peace between the existing factions. A new agenda has surfaced that is constantly being massaged and repositioned.

Compounding this dilemma is the continuation of positive spin being applied by the government and the military on how well the various current actions are going, how much improved the war is going, how successful the various strategies are working, how beneficial it all is for the long term security of the region yet when it is all pealed away, much of what if said is still false, fulfilling an MBA mantra of constant positive affirmation as a panacea to ward off failure as failure in itself is considered unacceptable.
But are the government and the military living in a fantasy world, do they seriously believe that the solution will evolve out of a constant barrage of military might and positive determination on behalf of those that are directing it.
By comparison, one needs to look at the neighbour and again put things into a perspective, stripping away the rhetoric and looking at the logicality of the complex situations and in the end, asking if the powers to be really do have answers to these enormous problems.
Israel and the Palestinians have been warring for more than sixty years and still, even though Israel maintains the upper hand militarily, financially and with its strong US allegiances, it is no closer to a reaching an equitable solution with the Palestinians and their Arab backers now than it was in 1948.
In Iran, the US has imposed sanctions and sought its allies in the region as well as internationally to support them yet still Iran continues on its own quest, greatly inconvenienced but largely unimpeded in cementing its agenda and its position as a regional leader. The US President went to all his major allies of the region and continued to spread the message of moral superiority over the Iranians yet nothing could be further from the truth,

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