Maybe it's because I've been watching too much Fox News, but I'm amazed how quickly this whole war thing in Iraq has transformed itself into nothing more than a war to liberate Iraq. Suddenly, there's no other motive, no other point to this war other than freeing the Iraqi people.

Yeah, I know Saddam is a horrible, horrible, evil man (and yes, he is evil). And I know that pretty much no matter how badly we fuck up Iraq after the war (and we will), the Iraqi's will still be better off than they are now, but does anyone really believe that this war is only about liberating Iraq? Does anyone really think that Dicky and Rummy and Condi were totally against the war until they saw a news story about Saddam's oppression and were so moved to tears that they decided that, U.N. be damned, they were going to free those poor people? Do you think Rummy and Dicky have ever been moved to tears (well, maybe when Dicky found out his daughter was a lesbian, but that's another story). God, imagine being Rummy's son. That guy is bossing around four-star generals, what chance does a teenage son have after being caught sneaking back into the house after partying all night?

But anyways, I digress.

Wasn't this war about WMD? Wasn't it because Saddam was in cohoots with Al Qeda? Wasn't it about Resolution blah blah blah? Or wasn't it because the neo-cons cooked up some magic mushroom fever dream of a Middle-East domino theory? What happened to all of those reasons for going to war (and whatever happened to those WMD's anyways?)

I know, it's all about PR and spin. About presenting a better face to the rest of the world, especially the Arabic world. I'm just amazed at how quickly the context of the war has changed just because the White PR people decided to call the war "Operation Iraqi Freedom." With that and a few speeches, every other reason to go to war has quickly been forgotten. The press, and the country, has fallen for it hook, line and sinker.

I wonder, what would have happened if they would have named the operation, say, "Operation Help W. Win the NCAA Tourney Bracket." Would Fox and CNN adapt it in their logos? Would we have analyst after analyst talking about how recent developments in the war would help or hinder Smirkboy's ability to beat Condi in the White House Tourney Pool? Would polls be taken on what the people think about W.'s chances? Would Fox News accuse anyone who didn't think going to war to help W. win the pool was a good reason as being a cheese eating surrender monkey? Would every embedded reporter twist their stories to talk about how the taking of Basra would help Bush in the pool because Texas is 4-1 when major cities are taken during American Wars? Would an entire country talk about how proud they are of our boys (and women) because W's beating Dicky?

Are we really that gullible? Nevermind