My wife (the good Democrat) used to be frustrated with me whenever we discussed the war in Iraq, because as she put it "There you go, using facts again" whenever I pointed out the logical inconsistencies of her arguments. (Sidenote: this is a perpetual problem for anyone married to a lawyer.) So I encouraged her to get facts by watching news shows. Lo and behold, she has discovered Keith Olberman, who says what she believes and he does it so almost intellectually.
I listened to his tirade this evening, and while marvelling at a delivery that would have made Goebbels green with envy, I became upset with his use of "facts" that were anything but. For instance, the good Dr. Olbermann stated that we have "lost the war in Iraq." How can that be I wondered? Which American units have been forced to surrender. What divisions devastated, or brigades obliterated? Where can we not go whenever we want to?
This is not to say that we are winning. The reality is that we are winning militarily, in that the enemy is not able to exert his will on our forces, but we are losing politically. The enemy has found our week spot: Our susceptibility to propaganda.
Which was ironic when I found this article about delusions. This explains so very well why we have lost politically. Because we want to. With a constant barrage of hatred against the war which is really just a subset of the hatred toward Bush, we have come to believe that which we hear so often.
The article also got me to thinking about Islamic/Oriental fatalism. If nothing can happen except by Allah's will, then why was Israel allowed by Allah to exist? And if it is Allah's will to allow Israel to exist, then what good Muslim could seek its destruction?
I know, I know, religion and logic are automatically antithetical.
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