White House Syndrome

[The bombings prove al-Qaida is] "the most brutal and bankrupt of movements...."

--Condoleezza Rice

"There is nothing they won't do if they think it will work in creating carnage and the political fallout that comes from that."

--Ryan Crocker

Three weeks ago, Iraqi and American military officials offered a dramatic announcement.  They reported that the two women suicide bombers who had hit separate Baghdad pet markets within half-an-hour both had Down syndrome, and had likely been recruited and detonated by al Qaeda.

I had my suspicions, but it didn't stop a wide swath of media from jumping on the story, producing headlines and visuals like these.

Once again, those nameless, faceless evil-doers the White House compulsively talks about had demonstrated what barbarians they are.  Imagine, using mentally handicapped women to kill the father of these now emotionally shattered boys, or to cause blood to flow freely in the streets, leading shell-shocked Iraqi's to simply look down and wonder why.

... If there is anything even slightly redeeming about the whole scenario, and I mean slight, it is that the American military (without the pictures this time, and with much less fanfare, as well) admitted that the Down syndrome claim was false, and that no link to al Qaeda could be demonstrated, either.

Mentally Retarded Pair Used in Bombing  (AOL)
Down’s syndrome bombers kill 91  (Times Online)
Some Witnesses Descriptions, Picture Disagree on Least One Iraqi Market Bomber (DotCommonSense)
Files for Suicide Bombers Show No Down Syndrome (NYT)

(image 1& 2: Ali Yussef, Getty Images. Baghdad.  February 1, 2008. Times Online and AOL.com)

Comments

[lytom]

So it is getting boring not knowing details about the suicide bombers. News media, supplied by the american army investigators, those are the ones who get on the scene and close it off to rest of the population, make the statements.
Who would benefit by the bomber having Down syndrome or mental retardation? Al Qaida? or the ones who make the statements a la C.Rice?
It is for sure no longer a struggle against occupation. Beggars or mentally retarded persons make it deranged movement! It is for consumption for the public in Iraq and for US. So the cleansing can begin...I worry that it will bring pressure and punishment on the women in general, since they can no loger be trusted to do no harm.

[jasperjava]

By calling the bombers mentally retarded, the White House is projecting its own mental disabilities.

[wmcq]

I am happy to say I never believed this for a minute. The worst part about this callous propaganda ploy is that it has the potential to increase fear and mis-trust of a population that most of the world already treats very badly.

I'm reminded of what ex Surgeon General Carmona said about DHHS big-wigs who tried to kill his sponsorship of the Special Olympics. I believe the quote was 'Why would we want to help those people?' (Meaning the Kennedy family, long time patrons of the Special Olympics, not even thinking for a minute about people living with disabilities, who benefit from the event.)

Despicable.

I truly fear for this country when people so transparently vile can get close enough to steal one, much less two presidential election.

[black dog barking]

So, in Baghdad, a year after the announcing the Surge (Stay The Course, Harder™), life has returned to something like normal and you think to yourself, "You know what? We should get a pet for the kids to play with. A treat." So you bundle up the family and head off to Pets 'R Us, Baghdad, shopping for a puppy. And boom, the world ends and there's so much blood on the ground that it forms pools in the mud, like after a hard rain.

And Steven R Hurst, AP, comes along to see what happened and report to the world, 'cause that's his job and somehow Steven R Hurst gets the idea that al-Qaida of Iraq is responsible for this slaughter and that al-Qaida of Iraq used hapless mentally deficient women to deliver this carnage. Steven R Hurst's idea is that the hapless women carried bombs into the pet bazaar and al-Qaida of Iraq detonated the bombs by remote control. So Steven R Hurst, AP, writes these ideas down and sends them to his editors at AP and the editors at AP check the ideas out and edit the ideas and then make sure we here in America find out what Steven R Hurst knows.

So now we know everything Steven R Hurst, AP, knows.

[chris in sacto]

I don't believe the women had Down's syndrome, but I'm willing to believe perhaps characterizing them with an affliction that lay people would mistakenly identify as one with a mental problem was at the root of the story. I read shortly after the initial headlines the story of a physician who was supplying patients from a mental facility as "suicide" candidates.

THE head of a Baghdad psychiatric hospital has been accused of supplying al-Qaida in Iraq with mental patients to carry out suicide attacks.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23203875-663,00.html

[ran]

my ironclad rule: if a Pentagon source says it and it's not simply announcing the untimely death of a soldier, it's a lie until proven otherwise. and even the cause of the death if declared non-hostile is suspect. these guys simply have zero credibility.

[stevelaudig]

Not quite a direct parallel but the US does "credibly" admit to using intelligent animals in its "war" effort.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/08/31/earlyshow/living/petplanet/main808201.shtml

[jtfromBC]

'In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies'

Good advice when listening to military spokespersons or to -

'I've always been intrigued by Churchill, - I think he was one of the really fascinating leaders. The British ambassador had recently brought him a bust of Winston Churchill on loan from the British government, so Churchill is now watching my every move' - Bush

[MonsieurGonzo]

btw, that was a fascinating video you posted on the PKK thread, JT. fwiw, i was struck by the guerrilla's non-nation raison d'être notion that ‘gender equality’ is achieved by a virtue being the denial of their human sexuality.

lessee, where the hell am i... oh, yeah ~ the retard ruse thing. Well these images are entirely generic; irrelevant and immateiral to the plot, are they not? so let us muse.

San Francisco Chronicle => U.S. is Recruiting Misfits for Army

Felons, racists, gang members fill in the ranks : “In 2004, the Pentagon published a "Moral Waiver Study," whose seemingly benign goal was : ‘to better define relationships between pre-Service behaviors and subsequent Service success.’ ”

imho, the "retard ruse" thing is a classical Rovian tactic... you know, that pull-out-your-hair feeling you get when Mr. Rove, et al faux news echo chamber takes some absolutely hideous Administration policy, and accuses YOU and/or any opposition apparent of being or doing what THEY are being or doing: grrrr !

This ‘Rovian’ j'accuse! strategic pre-emption : being a bid “...whose primary function is to take up bidding space from the opponents... Since it deprives the opponents of [their own] bidding space, it is expected that [the opposition] will either find a wrong contract [ = Talking Point construct]... or fail to find any [appropriate response, whatsoever].”

Today, fwiw we have the mind-numbing logic spectacle of Mrs. Clinton, taking a page from the ‘Rovian Playbook’, j'accusing Mr. Obama of taking a page from the ‘Rovian Playbook’.