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by Jim Lilly
There was only one catch and that was catch 22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to, but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.
"That's some catch, that Catch-22," he observed.
"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed
-- Joseph Heller's Catch-22
I watched the presidential address to the nation and felt the need to put my fingers to work on this keyboard, just to keep my head from exploding. I'll admit it, I'm confused. I thought the war in Iraq was about weapons of mass destruction, about the imminent threat they posed to neighboring allies and to the USA. So we were told we had to go to war NOW, no time to wait for more inspections or building an international coalition. I guess a sane mind (and I'll throw the US Congress into that group for argument's sake) could conclude that these were powerful reasons for launching a pre-emptive war.
"[WMD] is what this war was about and is about." White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.
But now the president informs us that the war wasn't really about wmds after all. That the war was to enforce the UN Security Council's resolutions, the same UN that wouldn't support a pre-emptive invasion of Iraq. That the war was about removing Saddam Hussein from power, although we steadfastly deny that our interests are regime change and nation building. That the war was to root out the terrorists that attacked the US, even though the majority of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia and none from Iraq. I'm sure Yossarrian could appreciate the subtleties of this quagmire our nation finds itself in, but all it does for me is to make me bitter and mad as hell.
And now we find ourselves returning to the UN to ask for assistance. Like Major Major, the character who was out of the office whenever he was in and in the office whenever he was out, we need assistance from the world community after telling the world we don't need you. Every rational thinking person would agree that we need an international presence to change the perception of a US occupation into an Iraqi liberation. But do we propose to allow the UN a voice in crafting a new Iraqi government? No. Will we allow participating nations even a sliver of the Iraqi oil pie? No. Let's all pucker and issue a slow respectful whistle at the sheer arrogance of it all.
I yearn for the best possible world for my two young daughters as they grow up as citizens of the United States and citizens of the world. That the world they grow into is one of true community, guided by the principle that all humankind is equal and all voices are heard as we determine the future of our planet. But I know in the current climate that writing this article, that voicing any kind of dissent, will label me an un-patriotic heathen in the eyes of many. Even though our country was founded on the ideals of freedom of speech and the open debate over matters of national importance.
That's some catch, that Catch-22.
Jim Lilly (lilly@labs.net)is an independent writer from Independence, WV and a proud constituent of Robert C. Byrd
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