ok, so we’ve got him. we’ve swabbed the inside of his mouth and shaved him. the news outlets are in an uproar. “hooray! something to report. we were so tired of talking about snow.” what has been said so far? “he looks like a homeless man! haha! he was living in a hole! what a pathetic end for the dictator! how ironic! didn’t even put up a fight. what a loser! ho ho ho.” yes, indeed it is scrumptious, you glorified newsies, but how exactly are you approaching the issue in a deeper sense? “why focusing on it’s political ramifications of course. after all, what other ramifications are there really?”
“what does it mean for the democrats who have opposed the war, namely howard dean? are they sucking wind now? are they dead in the water? are they crying like little girls? bet their biting their tongues, pretty much nils their complaints huh? and what does it mean for the bush administration? this has really bolstered his reelection campaign has it not? he’s really riding high now folks! can’t wait for the press conference. this ought to really give him leverage on the international scene. diplomatic opportunities galore! those foreigners will have to lick some serious ass now won’t they? we showed them huh? and the intelligence community? well, this gives them a clean slate. they are really champs! how did we ever doubt their effectiveness? imagine? they found him. ra ra ra sisk boom ba…. etc” o.k. yes, yippee hurray, we’ve got him. we have captured the flag, slain the dragon, we have lobbed an energy pulse directly into the heart of the death star.
it’s all well and good. at least we were able to find somebody over there. most assuredly a major symbolic victory. that’s really the thing that wows me about the whole proceedings thus far. symbolism seems to be king. i guess it always is, perception of the populous. only in this case the symbols are very clear, writ large, easy to see. granted this only just happened, info will stream 24 hours a day from this point on, but who knows what will happen from here? i assume we are still neck deep in what amounts to an extremely hostile place. that guys are still fighting, getting killed, that we are still seen as a occupying force. symbolically this is big, but in the end what does it really mean? it seems like the hope is that he will have information that will make the whole endeavor more understandable, that he will admit to wmd programs, lead us to hiding places, etc, and finally settle the grumbling about our reasons for preemptive strike. that he will nod and sheepishly admit he and bin laden were in cahoots somehow, bridge partners, or whatever the connection might be, solidifying history even more, sweeping away more doubts and grumbles. i can already see bush’s face on mount rushmore if that is how it plays out. and who knows, maybe it will. would it really be so bad to find out our president is not the lying, cheating, nincompoop so many people think he is? even so, i will never be convinced that in the end, somehow, money is not the only truth, but then as i’ve said before, i’m probably cynical.
with all the unknown ahead i want to be the first to forecast the conspiracy theories which are sure to come. i can not know there exact details of course but can imagine the flint and sparks setting them off. imagine, if you will, hussein being killed before he reaches trial by some sunni, a la jack ruby. ohhh ho ho, i can imagine the theories! he was a plant intended to silence saddam before he could blow the lid on his puppet dictatorship and it’s ties to the us government! or if he gets shanked in custody by some pissed off soldier, same thing. what if the airport he’s being held at gets suicide bombed before he ever makes it out of iraq? hmmm? how could the insurgents manage such a thing? was the mouth swabbing done just to cover up the fact that the man was actually a body double? yikes. what if he testifies and spouts all kinds of crazy talk and his testimony is released eventually with 90% of it’s content blacked out for security reasons? only he’s been executed already and can never explain it all. uh oh! anyhow, it could go in any direction, on and on, and truth be told this is one of those huge historical moments in time that for better or worse will most likely always remain ambiguous and debated. the reasons, the outcomes the portents. it will prove to be yet another reminder that truth is not absolute, never has been. that truth is perhaps nonexistent, and that the symbolism, perception, and rhetoric is all. that, the bill and the body count.
in any case congratulations to the folks over there, this must make you feel fantastic, a real accomplishment that can’t be debated too much. hopefully this will get you home that much sooner.