Doublethink (Part 1)

“Then the face of Big Brother faded away again, and instead the three slogans of the Party stood out in bold capitals:

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”

Nineteen Eighty-Four  Part 1 Chapter 1, p. 17 by George Orwell.[1]

Slogans from Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four are absurd—oxymoronic gibberish—contradictory words that don’t belong in the same sentence together except as an example of opposites.  Double talk.

How does war equal peace?

Or freedom equal slavery?

Is we ever stronger when we is ignorant?

The slogans are born of “doublethink”: a word Orwell coined for a technique his fictional future dictatorship used to control its citizens.  The dictatorship controls citizens’ access to facts, limits their vocabularies, and clutters their minds with inconsistencies.  Those ruled in Orwell’s novel live with their heads filled with contradictory concepts for so long that they lose the ability to distinguish fact from fiction.  They can’t think clearly—which makes it very easy for their rulers to lie to them.

Doublethink goes beyond gullibility.  Double-thinkers willingly switch off their reason.  Point out the lies and they get angry—not at the liar for deceiving them, but at the messenger for stating the obvious—they’ve been believing a lie.

But Nineteen Eighty-Four  is only a story.  Doublethink doesn’t happen in real life does it?

PACIFICATION

OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM

FIGHT FOR PEACE

VOLUNTARY COMPLIANCE

DEFICIT SPENDING

SOCIAL SECURITY TRUST FUND

Pacification—In military terms, pacify: “to hit an area as hard as possible in order that it would be reduced to rubble—that is, ‘pacified.’”[2]  E.g. “Pacify Fallujah.”

Operation Iraqi Freedom—The US “liberated Iraqis” with a preemptive invasion of Iraq.  But wait, weren’t they fighting for “our freedoms” too?

Fight for Peace—President George W. Bush congratulated US military personnel on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln: “In this battle, we have fought for the cause of liberty, and for the peace of the world.”

Voluntary Compliance—You’re free to pay your income taxes voluntarily.  You’re not coerced, right?

Deficit Spending—When the Federal Government pays its bills, it does it with no money.

 Social Security Trust Fund—The Social Security Trust Fund cannot be trusted, and it isn’t funded.  There is no trust fund with money in it.  It’s all IOUs written by one part of government to another.[3]

 

War is Peace or “Mission Accomplished” Take Two

 

On August 31, 2010, President Obama (D) declared: an “end of our combat mission in Iraq.”[4]

 

On May 1, 2003, in front of a “Mission Accomplished” banner, then-President George W. Bush (R) declared: “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.”[5]

On August 31, 2010, Obama disclosed that a “transitional force of US troops” would remain in Iraq.  Translation: troops remain in Iraq.

 

On May 1, 2003, Bush stated: “And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country.”  Translation: troops remain in Iraq.

Obama’s historic speech fulfilled his campaign promises to remove combat troops from Iraq by “the summer of 2010” and also to keep “a residual force” in Iraq.[6][7]

Does it sound contradictory that Obama ran for President promising to withdraw troops from Iraq while also promising to leave troops in Iraq?  Together the two promises meant Obama would leave troops in Iraq, he just wouldn’t call them “combat” troops.

Both Bush and Obama have told American citizens that combat operations are over in Iraq, yet both have left combat troops in Iraq after announcing the end of combat operations.

 

Over 3,000 US soldiers and uncounted Iraqis have died in in Iraq since Bush announced the end of major combat operations.  Twelve days after Obama announced the end of combat operations in Iraq for US troops, US troops were still engaged in combat operations.[8]  Fifteen days later, US combat troops killed seven civilians in a combat raid near Fallujah.[9]

Fifty thousand US troops remain in Iraq with an additional 100,000 US mercenary soldiers after Obama announced the end of “our combat mission.”  The Iraqi Defense Minister, Abdul Obeidi says US troops may be in Iraq forever:

"Maybe endlessly," said Obeidi when asked how long U.S. support may be necessary. "As long as I have an army and I'm a Third World country, and I can't pretend that I'm better than that … I will need assistance.”[10]

Are we already double-thinkers?  Our leaders apparently think so.  For them: War is Peace.
_______________________________
[1] Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell, New American Library, N.Y., 1949, p. 17.
[2] JFK: the CIA, Vietnam, and the plot to assassinate John F. Kennedy, by By Leroy Fletcher Prouty, Kensington Publishing Corp., N.Y., 1996, p. 250.
[3] Comeback America: Turning the Country Around and Restoring Fiscal Responsibility, By David M. Walker, Random House, N.Y., 2009, p.72, (Accessed at http://books.google.com/books?id=7Ga0TEYaScIC&lpg=PR2&ots=TjzWPcLWpF&dq=Comeback%20America%3A%20Turning%20the%20Country%20Around%20and%20Restoring%20Fiscal%20Responsibility&pg=PA72#v=onepage&q&f=false on Sept. 27, 2010).
[4] “Obama Declares an End to Combat Mission in Iraq,” By HELENE COOPER and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG,  August 31, 2010, NY Times, (Accessed at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/world/01military.html?_r=1&th=&emc=th&pagewanted=all on Sept 3, 2010)
[5] “Text Of Bush Speech; President Declares End To Major Combat In Iraq,” By Jarrett Murphy, May 1, 2003, (Accessed at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/01/iraq/main551946.shtml on Sept. 29, 2010).
[6] “Blueprint for Change Obama and Biden’s Plan for America” (pdf)  p. 69, (Accessed at http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/ObamaBlueprintForChange.pdf on September 11, 2010).
[7] “Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation on the End of Combat Operations in Iraq,” August 31, 2010, (Accessed at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/31/remarks-president-address-nation-end-combat-operations-iraq on September 11, 2010).

“Going forward, a transitional force of U.S. troops will remain in Iraq with a different mission:  advising and assisting Iraq’s Security Forces, supporting Iraqi troops in targeted counterterrorism missions, and protecting our civilians.  Consistent with our agreement with the Iraqi government, all U.S. troops will leave by the end of next year.  As our military draws down, our dedicated civilians -- diplomats, aid workers, and advisors -- are moving into the lead to support Iraq as it strengthens its government, resolves political disputes, resettles those displaced by war, and builds ties with the region and the world.  That’s a message that Vice President Biden is delivering to the Iraqi people through his visit there today.”

[8] “More Post-Combat U.S. Gunfire in Iraq,” By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS, NY Times, September 12, 2010, (Accessed at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/world/middleeast/13iraq.html?_r=1&hp on Sept 12, 2010).
[9] “Iraqi-U.S. Raid Near Falluja Leaves 7 Dead,” By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS and DURAID ADNAN, NY Times, September 15, 2010, (Accessed at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/16/world/middleeast/16iraq.html?_r=1&th&emc=th on September 18, 2010).
[10] “Iraqi official foresees a U.S. military presence until 2016,” By Liz Sly, Los Angeles Times, September 8, 2010, (Accessed at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq-troop-presence-20100909,0,954392,print.story on Sept. 29, 2010).