More Irony in Iraq

  

More Irony in Iraq

Peter Schultz

 

                  The following is from James Bamford’s book A Pretext for War:

 

                  “It wasn’t just the small dumps that got overlooked; the United States also failed to secure Iraq’s single largest ammo dump, known as Al QaQaa…. After examining the bunkers, the troops simply left the doors open…. The looters and future insurgents wasted little time stripping the base. After learning of the problem in May 2003, an internal IAEA memorandum [alerted] Washington that terrorists might be in the process of helping ‘themselves to the greatest explosive bonanza in history.’ The White House, however, ignored the warning. Thus, intent on finding nuclear weapons that didn’t exist, Washington ignored the real weapons that did exist.

 

                  “Through such actions and inactions, the Bush administration turned Iraq into a grizzly death factory for Americans and innocent Iraqi men, women, and children. Its invasion created the insurgency, its brutal occupation kept it growing, and its utter lack of planning and foresight armed with a virtually unlimited supply of powerful weapons. This makes for bitter irony. The Bush administration invaded Iraq in large part to keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists. Now because of its invasion and lack of planning, the Bush administration is responsible for weapons of mass destruction going into the hands of terrorists…. The result is a seemingly endless downward spiral.”  [400-403, emphasis added]

 

                  As some have argued, the political is the realm of the ironic. Obviously, the Bush administration and its leading neoconservatives had no appreciation for the ironical character of their war in Iraq. Had they been aware of the ironical character of their politics, had they had, that is, a more developed sense of humor, they would neither have failed so badly nor killed so many people.