Another socialist blog

So we must be ready to fight in Vietnam, but ultimate victory will depend upon the hearts and minds of the people that actually live out there. — Lyndon Johnson

We heard a lot of wartime doublespeak during the Vietnam War. It inspired the classic Vietnam documentary Hearts and Minds, in which smug official lies by U.S. officials were shown alongside the reality those officials were lying about. I vividly remember watching General Westmoreland patiently explaining that “in the Orient, life is pretty cheap.”

Some of these same phrases are being dusted off for the war in Iraq, such as “pacification” (meaning the deliberate reduction of an area to rubble). I wonder when we will begin to hear in sanctimonious speeches that American troops are fighting for the “hearts and minds” of the Iraqi people.

The hearts and minds of Faluja aren’t in a particularly grateful mood lately, despite the much-proclaimed benefits of freedom and precision bombing. NPR reported this week on the deep hostility toward the collaboration government, which in turn has condemned the U.S. for collectively punishing the residents of Faluja. Iraqi security forces refused to fight there, and have been defecting to the resistance in significant numbers. People who have escaped Faluja tell horror stories of Americans firing at random, including at women and children. A family of 28 people were all killed when an aircraft bombed their home. Iraqis are forced to bury their dead relatives in the garden because American snipers will fire on them if they venture into the street.

I just hope they appreciate it.