Word: unreality
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Like some martial equivalent of the Reagan years, the victory in the gulf makes Americans feel better about themselves. It was splendid and necessary but also unreal -- an action-adventure that, like most movies, was divided into three chapters, with decisive turning points: 1) the Iraqi invasion and the buildup of coalition forces; 2) the onset of the air war; and 3) the ground war and its denouement. The victory came with such merciless ease that on the winners' side, the deeper levels of experience (nobility, sacrifice, endurance and so on) were not engaged. The victors now celebrate mostly their...
...means and costs as well as its ends, and the Administration has struggled to manage these as well. For once, the peppy President is wary of cheerleading. He wants to send the message that the war is going well, but at the same time he fears the unreal expectations of a quick and bloodless victory that the footage of "smart" bombs can raise. For all the effort to manage the news -- banning the shots of flag-draped coffins at Dover Air Force Base, spooning out upbeat statistics at briefings, keeping the press pool tightly leashed -- the fact remains that this...
...unreal it all feels. Never before have Americans waited for a war scheduled to begin on or close to a certain date, knowing too that they will watch its horror during prime time. How discouraging as well, after the freedom that swept Eastern Europe following 40 years of communist dictatorship. Because of that transformation, the possibility of massive war was supposedly lifted: the nukes were being destroyed. We were not totally lulled. We knew that madmen still held sway, messianic tyrants riveted by the Nietzschean principle that power is a good in itself. We felt bad for those subjected...
Amid that air of the unreal, Americans edged themselves toward a war psychology. They supported George Bush's decisions to send the troops and call up the reserves. They signaled that they are ready to endure sacrifices to pursue American objectives, even accepting -- for now -- the possibility of higher inflation, higher gas prices and fuel shortages...
...really ridiculous," she said, adding,"that's not the first time they've publishedstupid and unreal articles in the People's Daily...