Code Words

The ability to speak plainly is becoming a lost art, particularly in the realm of politics. Instead of "telling it like it is", all we get are code words. The political leadership is more into crafting the right euphemism for events and challenges than telling the truth.

No political subject is more susceptible to code words than the Iraq situation. Witness the debate over whether or not Iraq is having a civil war. A civil war would definitely interfere with our War on Terror (a code word for retaliation for 9/11), so the Bushies won't use that term. Saying that our troops were embroiled in an Iraqi civil war would suggest that our original mission of taking the fight to the terrorists on their ground was no longer our primary reason for being in Iraq. The Iraqi War was over within weeks of our invasion, witness- "Mission Accomplished" (a code word for toppling Saddam). Mission accomplished was followed by bringing democracy to the people of Iraq ( a code word for exit strategy). An Iraqi civil war would fly in the face of all our efforts to bring democracy to the people of Iraq. An Iraqi civil war would admit that our exit strategy had failed, therefore the Bushies dare not call it that.

I wouldn't call the internecine strife in Iraq a civil war either. I think of a civil war as armed warfare between two governments both claiming legitimacy and both contending for control of the same nation. I would call the Iraq situation anarchy, sectarian slaughter, religious warfare, or anything else but civil war. Whatever the name, the situation is horrendous, indefensible and chaotic. It is not conducive to the creation of a democratic society, although who knows what could happen if enough of the radical Sunnis and Shi'ites are killed by each other. Regardless of our original reasons for being in Iraq, an immediate withdrawal of American armed forces would probably worsen the situation.

It was suggested at one time that the Baathist insurgents, Al Qaeda's foreign fighters and common criminals were stoking sectarian battles to destabilize Iraq. It seems now that the acts and retaliations for acts of Sunnis and Shi'ites have their own impetus. It makes me wonder if the terrorists had that much to do with the religious killings in the first place. The Sunnis (orthodox Muslims) and the Shia' (Muslims who wanted Ali, Muhammed's cousin, to lead their movement and religion) have been opposed to each other since after the death of the Prophet in the 7th century. I don't think any amount of troops will cause them to stop harming each other. Alas, what can be done? One thing for sure that can be done is to have the Right Guy in charge in Iraq. Bush says we have him in Malachi. I hope so. By the way, Right Guy is a code word for scapegoat.