Attention Shoppers: Freedom is Not on the March

[Rose Siding]

Isn't it a catchy lie? Freedom's On The March. It's compelling, intoxicating, even -something that you'd really like to be true. It's a lie you want to root for. If you locked Sousa, Jefferson, Rockwell, Barnum and Iacocca in a room and forced them -and you'd have to force some of them- to brainstorm until they devised a winning slogan, it just might be freedom is on the march.

The phrase is found on the White House web site 111 times, used the vast majority of times by Bush himself. From Africa to Arlington, from seniors to Boy Scouts to business groups, it's a go-to lie.

But it's a lie and here's why: Freedom isn't on the march. If it even could march - I sort of picture it seeping. Or floating across the land....emerging within a society, even dancing. Huh, maybe freedom's gay -I don't care, that doesn't really matter. The point is, no feet. And if it did have feet, it wouldn't look like this:

Iraqis have grown used to car bombs at markets, mosques and restaurants, and gunmen who set up fake checkpoints to stage abductions for money or politics. Many Iraqis carry fake IDs to hide their religious affiliation.

Or this:

Sometimes George says he drives a cab. Other times he passes himself off as an Agriculture Ministry employee. He feels that anything is safer than the truth, that he's a translator for the U.S. military......George is the name he got from his American employer. To reveal his real one could be his death.

And it sure as merde, pardon my French, wouldn't look like this:

(An) ambitious young woman who despite many warnings refused to hide her long, dark hair or take other precautions, was shot to death by insurgents who followed her to work (in the heavily fortified Green Zone).

"They were watching her. They threatened her," Ismaeel said. "She didn't listen. She challenged the situation."

And not this:

(B)ombs went off like popcorn all over Baghdad, scattering lives and punching holes in families. Mr. Hadi could barely see for the smoke. The air smelled of gasoline. A friend he had been sitting beside was dead. His legs would not work. He was missing his left hand. A stranger placed him in the back of a police truck, along with the bodies of the dead.

Hadi, 27, was engaged but now she's "moved on" and he needs help to go to the bathroom.

Settling this week's tab

The "good" news: Nine lives. For the second week in a row, US casualties are in the single digits. I don't know how long it's been since that happened because I could only bear to go back a few weeks for that grisly calculation. Nine have died for the "cause" since last Sunday. Only nine.

Only nine neighbors, little brothers, boyfriends -all men this week. Of the ones identified so far, the average age was 27, the oldest was 44, the youngest was 21 (he wasn't alone -two others, each 22, died with him), with 195 years of life between them.

Maybe one was a whistle blower. Or a scoundrel. There may have been a hero among them whose reactions were slowed by a crisis of conscience. Or a hero who was protecting a friend...or a stranger. Hell, maybe one even thought he was protecting me, though I would have liked the chance to change his mind about that. It could be that one had learned to love in Iraq and trusted still when that became too dangerous. Or maybe they learned to hate.

Here's some of what we know for sure (some known knowns, as our fabulous SecDef would say): They won't teach our children in classes, repair our cars, run for Congress, have safe sex, sell us groceries, go to jail, sing a song, support their children, flip us off, cure cancer, drive too fast, or come home.

The not-as-"good" news: How's that other slogan go? -When Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down? Apparently, a variation of that theme is true. When Americans remain standing (except for those 9) Iraqis will fall. Over the same week, dozens, maybe scores of Iraqis have died and multiples of that number suffered agony and loss. There's no way to know how many for sure. For some reason, it's really challenging to count dead Iraqis, proof that mathmatic skills aren't on the march either.

Saints march and sinners and ants at picnics and soldiers and dimes and bands, but not freedom. Not in Iraq.

[fasttense]

1. True, Freedom is not on the march but it is for sale. n/t

[Lady Effingbroke]

2. Freedom doesn't march, but fascism sure as hell does.