Potemkin in Baghdad

Mike at the Questionable Authority has a good reaction to McCain & Co's little 'stroll' and it's probably not what you think. It's not what I thought, anyway, and yet it is absolutely correct:

"On Sunday, Presidential candidate John McCain toured a Baghdad market, after first ensuring that he would be accompanied by enough cannon fodder to protect his continued livelihood."

or:

"Sunday, four Congressional Republicans staged a political stunt in the streets of Baghdad, forcing about 100 American servicemembers to put their lives on the line as security for the partisan pep rally."

or:

"Sunday, Lindsey Graham demonstrated that he wasn't afraid to risk his own life, or the lives of numerous American soldiers, in the pursuit of cheap rugs."

Readers are encouraged to leave further suggestions in the comments.

I might sound like I'm joking around a little with this, but the point I'm trying to make is serious, and I am, in all seriousness, outraged by these political jackasses. The American troops in Iraq put their lives on the line on a daily basis - and they spend a lot more days out there than the jerks in Congress do. I understand that Congress has an obligation to oversee things, and that there is no substitute to visiting Iraq if you want to know what is happening there. However, there is absolutely no excuse for a politician to place troops at any more risk than is absolutely necessary.

The Potemkin comparison comes from a comment Coturnix left there: It's hard to build a credible Potemkin village in this age of mass communicaiton technology. Yes, it is - and just as the administration hasn't yet figured out that the troops have access to unfiltered news or that their statements are actually on tape and can't be denied so easily - though they have figured out that if the cameras aren't confiscated they will show the truth - they haven't managed to come to terms with the reality that reality does indeed exist, and will, eventually, triumph.

As Philip K Dick remarked (in a different context)

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

Reality is that which, even if you deny it, is still there.