"Charge of the Light Brigade"

Was there a man dismay'd? 
Not though the soldier knew 
Someone had blunder'd . . . 

Dr. Kelly Anspaugh

01/30/04: (ICH) At the end of Tony Richardson's brilliant cinematic satire "Charge of the Light Brigade" we are left with a scene of the British officers, grouped together on the heights of Balaclava overlooking the disastrous self-destruction of the Brigade, bickering over who was at fault for the debacle before them. The eternal blame game: who, exactly, had blundered? 

Sorta like what's going on right now on Capitol Hill in regards the debacle that is the War in Iraq, as the Bush administration blames the intelligence services and the services deny responsibility: 

"But you TOLD us the weapons were there!" 

"We never did!" 

"You did!" 

"Didn't!" 

"You did!" 

"Did not!" 

"Did!" 

"Not!" 

"DID!" 

"NOT!" 

What comes clear (through this this foul Fog of War) is that our country invaded and occupied another sovereign nation on the basis of what intelligence wonks term "Rumint"--that is, rumor intelligence. We've spent over one hundred billion dollars (and counting), and over five hundred American soldiers' lives (and counting) in a war based on hearsay, hints, half-truths, best guesses, half-lies, worse cases, innuendo, insinuation, speculation, and, on the administration's part, wishful thinking. 

Shameful. 

Disgraceful. 

Grotesque. 

Absurd. 

Yes, our intelligence, it appears, was not so intelligent--was pretty stupid, in fact. That's embarrassing. But more embarrassing still was the blatant way the hawks in the administration cherry-picked, bullied, and violently spun this crapulent intelligence to make the case for war. Is it any wonder that Sheriff Bush and his posse don't want an independent investigation of the matter? 

And most embarrassing of all is the likelihood that the American public that will let these scoundrels get away with it, just as long as the president keeps wrapping himself in the flag, mouthing the phony rhetoric of liberation, and glorifying the task of our long-suffering soldiers. 

When can their glory fade? 
O the wild charge they made! 
All the world wondered. 
Honor the charge they made, 
Honor the Light Brigade, 
Noble six hundred. 

Sickening.

Dr. Kelly Anspaugh <kanspaugh@lima.ohio-state.edu>
The Ohio State University-Lima
Lima, Ohio 45804