The Comfort Zone

We were all wrong.” So reads the cover of the February 5 edition of Newsweek, quoting David Kay, the former chief weapons inspector in Iraq. With this, Newsweek gave new meaning to the term “cover story.” The front page depicts Bush, with his permanently imprinted, whiny, “I didn’t do it” expression.

There is Blair, looking like he learned everything he knows in Catholic school. Rumsfeld, whose face always reminds me a lot, not a little, of any Nazi you care to name. Powell—earnest, indignant, and spouting utter nonsense. Rice, always looking like she’s in the midst of a petit mal seizure: it’s her eyes. Cheney, one side of his lip raised, snarling all the way to the investment bank. Tenent, who would look no different if Matt Groening drew him into “The Simpsons”.

We’re supposed to believe these people? They made a little mistake and bombed Iraq and killed and maimed thousands who were minding their own lives, ditched the us military in the desert for what may work out to be decades, blew the federal budget, drove the leader of a sovereign state from office, and have so far wasted the lives of nearly 550 of our soldiers—all by accident?

It’s either that or you need a good conspiracy theory. We all know that the moment we say, “These people knew exactly what they were doing; they lied to us,” there’s always one idiot in the room who pipes up and says he doesn’t believe in conspiracy theories. The implication is that if you believe that the people in the White House, the Pentagon, and the corporate community (to the extent that they are even different people) work together for certain common purposes, you have a soft mind, you draw conclusions where you don’t have facts, and you’re basically a fool.

We have just about all fallen for the same line on the September 11 scandals—that FBI memos warned of the attacks; that Bush was briefed on August 6, and everyone looked the other direction; that once the cataclysm occurred, they seized control of the world amidst great panic and fear. Then came a series of domestic crackdowns on freedom and privacy along with two long, ongoing, bloody, and expensive wars. If anyone is in doubt as to why, run the film clip of the World Trade Center falling down.

Over the course of a reporting career spent untangling the lies of government and corporations, I have become fascinated with why people believe lies. Even as lies and liars are exposed again and again, people still believe them, and often with a devotion that verges on religious fervor. Some suggest this is a form of addiction to deception.