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Paul Krugman’s words yesterday set in motion another juxtaposition on the teleprompter in my head:

From the day it took office, U.S. News & World Report wrote a few months ago, the Bush administration “dropped a shroud of secrecy” over the federal government. After 9/11, the administration’s secretiveness knew no limits — Americans, Ari Fleischer ominously warned, “need to watch what they say, watch what they do.” Patriotic citizens were supposed to accept the administration’s version of events, not ask awkward questions.

Paul’s column continues, building up to his observations about Richard Clarke’s revelations about the Bush Administration this week:

But something remarkable has been happening lately: more and more insiders are finding the courage to reveal the truth on issues ranging from mercury pollution — yes, Virginia, polluters do write the regulations these days, and never mind the science — to the war on terror.

It’s important, when you read the inevitable attempts to impugn the character of the latest whistle-blower, to realize just how risky it is to reveal awkward truths about the Bush administration. When Gen. Eric Shinseki told Congress that postwar Iraq would require a large occupation force, that was the end of his military career. When Ambassador Joseph Wilson IV revealed that the 2003 State of the Union speech contained information known to be false, someone in the White House destroyed his wife’s career by revealing that she was a C.I.A. operative. …

The latest insider to come forth, of course, is Richard Clarke, George Bush’s former counterterrorism czar and the author of the just-published “Against All Enemies.”

I’m not interested in playing the blame game. But I am determined to see this “shroud of secrecy” removed from my government. And I am passionate about changing our nation’s direction to one that’s just, that’s sane, that’s effective, one that doesn’t grieve the Holy Spirit so much with its hypocrisy, lies, violence, and false witness borne.

So to Paul and all these others who are steadfast and willing — at whatever cost — to rip the veil of secrecy by practicing the truth, I salute you.

Seymour Hersh writes a new article in The New Yorker, Moving Targets, that begins —

The Bush Administration has authorized a major escalation of the Special Forces covert war in Iraq. … [The Special Forces group’s] highest priority is the neutralization of the Baathist insurgents, by capture or assassination.

This radical Pentagon news once again juxtaposes contrasting concepts on the teleprompter in my head …

An American who has advised the civilian authority in Baghdad said, “The only way we can win is to go unconventional. We’re going to have to play their game. Guerrilla versus guerrilla. Terrorism versus terrorism. We’ve got to scare the Iraqis into submission.”

Can logic — or sanity — encompass both these beliefs? (I think not.)

One of the key planners of [this] Special Forces offensive is Lieutenant General William (Jerry) Boykin … In October, the Los Angeles Times reported that Boykin, while giving Sunday-morning talks in uniform to church groups, had repeatedly equated the Muslim world with Satan. Last June … he told a congregation in Oregon that “Satan wants to destroy this nation, he wants to destroy us as a nation, and he wants to destroy us as a Christian army.” … The Muslim world hates America, he said, “because we are a nation of believers.”

(emphasis mine)

Boykin says we are a nation of believers. But believers in whom?

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”
—Jesus (Luke 6:46, NIV)

[story link via Meteor Blades at Daily Kos]

Eric Blumrich makes hard-hitting, thought-provoking political animation features. I think of them as Bush war machine anti-propaganda that is presented — for effect — in propagandistic style. This one, “Victory” (870KB), concludes with a striking juxtaposition of two speeches:

See also Eric’s video Dr. Bushlove (600KB), which is also striking. Its title refers to the movie Dr. Strangelove, and in doing so (as I read into it) it’s a comment on the strange kind of “love” that’s willing to kill thousands and thousands of innocent civilians under the guise of “liberating” them.

Note that both animations contain graphic still photos of the carnage in Iraq.