Conditional engagement, etc

...Congratulations to all, both the living and the dead, in democratic pluralistic Iraq, not because the occupation and mercenary and militia forces have left, or because the age of corruption is over and those responsible for it have been called to account. No. The congratulations are in order because a member of the Iraqi Accord Front, an organization that was put together hastily to fulfill allocation-conditions, and that has been playing musical chairs for months, has now returned to the national-reconciliation government, and we have Rafie Aisawi, one of those appointed, according to the map of allocations, to the position of deputy prime minister, disclosing to us:

"the existence of efforts to draw up a road-map for the complementarity of the ministries that have direct contact with the vital necessities of the citizens of Iraq".

A thousand congratulations to the people of Iraq, on whom it is now incumbent to await the success of the efforts to draw up a road-map which will permit the attainment of the basics of life, such as safe drinking water, some electrical power, and enough food for onesself and one's family to keep away the evils of hunger and the loss of self-esteem. ...

This statement by Aisawi is a model for all the participants in the political process and in the government of the occupation. It is a government of virtual reality, with no relationship whatsoever to actual daily life. The statement by Aisawi is ludicrous and sad at the same time, and so are the statements of the others on his list and in the government, and in fact some of them are starting to show signs of suffering from symptoms of addiction to these virtual-reality games and of mental slippage into a trance or a coma transporting them far from the Iraqi people and their tragedies and their aspirations. They will not awaken from this coma unless it is to the sound of the marching feet of the soldiers of the occupation as they gather together their equipment and their virtual game machines. Leaving behind them the sons of the occupation to face the actual reality of Iraq and the resistance of those who reject the occupation and its agents.