Friday, October 24, 2003
Not at all clear which side of larger war of good v. evil CIA is on
speakingcorpse writes:
Republicans compare CIA leak to 9/11 on CNN. They agree that "the sky is falling" on CIA operatives and operations across the globe. But what's the other side of the story? I think we might need to go to Pat Robertson on this one. The other side might be: the CIA, as a professional and nonpartisan agency staffed by highly skilled lifetime workers who have no interest in the political advancement of one agenda or another, needs, urgently, to be on the receiving end of a nuclear attack. Also: the deaths of CIA operatives and American citizens, even if facilitated by members of the Bush administration, can only happen if God wants them to happen. If they do happen, as 9/11 happened, this is because God is punishing his chosen people, in preparation for their final redemption. The latter reasoning is probably the one that the Bush loyalists are, in all likelihood, adhering to. If an American Republican gets killed, it HAS to be part of a fore-ordained battle in the longer war of good v. evil. The "evil ones" are the only earthly agents responsible. God is ultimately responsible, but his purposes are always just; he will ensure that an American death now will be payed back with interest on the fields of Northern Israel, when Kofi Annan is driven beneath the wheels of his hellish chariot...
Joan Didion superbly describes this line of fatalistic death-loving rationalization in her major article in this week's New York Review of Books.
posted by Blicero : 10/24/2003 03:28:00 PM
Republicans compare CIA leak to 9/11 on CNN. They agree that "the sky is falling" on CIA operatives and operations across the globe. But what's the other side of the story? I think we might need to go to Pat Robertson on this one. The other side might be: the CIA, as a professional and nonpartisan agency staffed by highly skilled lifetime workers who have no interest in the political advancement of one agenda or another, needs, urgently, to be on the receiving end of a nuclear attack. Also: the deaths of CIA operatives and American citizens, even if facilitated by members of the Bush administration, can only happen if God wants them to happen. If they do happen, as 9/11 happened, this is because God is punishing his chosen people, in preparation for their final redemption. The latter reasoning is probably the one that the Bush loyalists are, in all likelihood, adhering to. If an American Republican gets killed, it HAS to be part of a fore-ordained battle in the longer war of good v. evil. The "evil ones" are the only earthly agents responsible. God is ultimately responsible, but his purposes are always just; he will ensure that an American death now will be payed back with interest on the fields of Northern Israel, when Kofi Annan is driven beneath the wheels of his hellish chariot...
Joan Didion superbly describes this line of fatalistic death-loving rationalization in her major article in this week's New York Review of Books.
posted by Blicero : 10/24/2003 03:28:00 PM
