As we watch the horror unfolding before our eyes like a giant time-delayed broadcast, a deeper horror should also be setting in. The entire discussion surrounding the "revelations" of mistreatment of Iraqis by the US (does bombing water purification plants count as mistreatment?) has taken on a sickening, surreal turn. I feel like we are watching "things fall apart," as Chinua Achebe once wrote. The center, indeed, does not hold, and we are witnessing the spiraling out of control of almost every element of our perception: moral compass spinning aimlessly, intellectual ground slipping, right merging with wrong, a sort of Mad Imperial Tea Party. Up is down, day is night, and war is peace as we descend Down the Spider Hole.
