Monday, February 26, 2007

"Catch-22" - Time to re-rent the video.

Bush flexing her muscle

"Tonight on Larry King Live, First Lady Laura Bush said she understands 'how the American people feel' when they express frustration over Iraq, but insisted that 'to leave now would be a serious mistake.' She said of Iraqis, 'This is their opportunity to seize the moment, to build a really good and stable country.'

"As...Bush added, 'Many parts of Iraq are stable now. But, of course, what we see on television is the one bombing a day that discourages everybody.' "

In that the latest figures (Nov. 2006) indicate there are now 185 attacks in Iraq every day according to the Brookings Institution, I think it's time we revisited Joseph Heller's book, "Catch-22". Or perhaps re-rent the video. At the very least, it should be required viewing for every soldier before deploying to Iraq.

In that novel, John Yossarian, a World War II B-25 bomber crew member, tries to deal with the insanity of war that his leadership actually seems to be enjoying. Wishing to be relieved of his flight duty, his commander keeps upping the number of missions crews must complete before they can be rotated out. (Sound familiar?)

Seems the only way for Yossarian to get out of flight duty is to be declared crazy. But when he approaches his squadron doctor, submitting to him he is unfit for flying because he is insane, the doc explains only a crazy person would want to fly those bombing missions and by Yossarian not wishing to participate further in the insane war, he is actually proving he is perfectly sane. And that's Catch-22. Yossarian's request is denied.

Conversely then, can we not apply that same logic to today's Iraq war leadership? When the Yossarian 's doctor explained that only a madman would want to continue with an insane war, maybe we can take this as validation of the mental status of Bush, Cheney, Rice, Laura Bush and the rest of the right-wing nuts.

Not wishing to quit this insane war and denying we're losing our asses in Iraq, are they not battier than hell? And under Heller's "Catch-22", are they not then qualified to be disqualified from further participation in their insanity?


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perfecto catch, Dada -- equating Laura B's absurd comment to Catch-22!!! Maybe seeing Alan Arkin winning an oscar triggered Yossarian? That's one rare case of the movie being just as good as the book. I will reread it soon.

Of course, Cheney IS Milo Minderbender, making $$$ off the war machine, thus presenting another catch-22. Milo says "in a democracy, the govt is the people. We're the people, aren't we? So we might as well keep the money & eliminate the middle man. If we pay the govt everything we owe, we'd only be encouraging govt control & discouraging others from bombing their own men & planes. We'd be taking away their incentive!" Och, tay Dickmon coudnae hae saed it bittarrr.

ps, can that be a real photo of Laura's hands? More and more, she and Condi both are starting to resemble Margaret Hamilton in The Wizard of Oz. God save us from where their yellow brick road is heading. ~~ D.K.

Dada said...

Re Laura and Condi beginning to look alike. Maybe after all these years, they're beginning to resemble the man of their dreams, hence, their striking resemblance to each other!