Chris Floyd: Darkness at Noon: Fatal Ignorance Puts Iraq on the Cross

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Darkness at Noon: Fatal Ignorance Puts Iraq on the Cross
Written by Chris Floyd
Wednesday, 26 March 2008


From the very beginning, the brutality, ruin and deceit of the American aggression in Iraq has been compounded by an unshakeable ignorance. This deadly cloud of unknowing has enveloped the entire chain of command, from the witless president who didn't know the difference between Sunni and Shia Islam to the troops on the ground who believed – as they were no doubt drilled to believe – that the invasion was "payback for 9/11," a righteous war of self-defense against a terrorist nation that had attacked America.

This implacable ignorance was on perfect display this week in a "feel-good" story put out by one of the Pentagon's myriad PR engines: "Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Official Website of Multi-National Force – Iraq." (Oddly enough, the official website of the "Multi-National Force" is entirely in English, and geared exclusively to American operations. Apparently, all the other vast armies in the "Multi-National Force" don't need to know what's going on in this collaborative, cooperative multi-national operation.) The press release carried the kind of culturally sensitive headline you would expect from a Western occupying force that launched a war in the heart of Islam that has killed a million Muslims: "God's Glory Abounds at Camp Victory."

No, it wasn't an account of Dick Cheney's visit to Iraq last week; it was an Easter story, provided by the Public Affairs Office at the not-at-all permanent base at the Baghdad airport. It told of a sunrise service at "at the temporary chapel at Al Faw Palace, Camp Victory, to celebrate the wonder of Easter." (See, we told you it wasn't a permanent base; it's got a "temporary chapel," for God's sake!)

The officer in charge was Chaplain (Major) Lane Stockeland, who explained to the grunt from Public Affairs that "the service in front of the palace was very similar to the Easter Sunrise Services held in cities all across America where people gather to greet the morning by giving praise to Jesus Christ" – a Middle Eastern rabble-rouser who, you might recall, was executed by a Western occupation force.

But beyond providing the troops a taste of home, the service at Camp Victory had a "deeper meaning," according to the major:

Holding a religious service in an area that once had no religious freedom is a milestone, Stockeland said. “I think it’s pretty significant to hold Easter sunrise in an area where folks didn’t have the freedom to do so.”

My, isn't it wonderful that the American invasion – and the million deaths it has spawned – have allowed people to hold services giving praise to Jesus Christ….in a land where services giving praise to Jesus Christ have been held uninterruptedly for almost 2,000 years.

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