March 4th, Catch-22 and the Immoral Logic of the war we’re trapped in

[Democrats_win]

The Iraq war represents a real Catch-22 for America and it’s soldiers. Luckily, the book, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller shows us a way out. It’s simple, decide to get out and act.

According to Wikipedia:

The prototypical Catch-22, as formulated by the book’s author, Heller, considers the case of a U.S. Army Air Forces bombardier (Yossarian)) who wishes to be excused from combat flight duty. In order to be excused from such duty, he must submit an official medical diagnosis from his squadron's flight surgeon, demonstrating that he is unfit because he is insane. According to Army regulations, any sane person would naturally not want to fly combat missions because they are so dangerous. By requesting permission not to fly combat missions, on the grounds of insanity, the bombardier demonstrates that he is in fact sane and therefore is fit to fly.

In other words, one has to be sane to recognize one's own insanity.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-2_(logic)

In the case of the Iraq war, Bush says we are fighting for freedom. Yet our soldiers are not free to leave. They must fight for freedom and then leave. There’s always a catch. Good thing the military assigned a number to Catch-22 although, it doesn’t really exist.

The Iraq war mirrors what happens to Yossarian and his fellow soldiers. Yossarian’s commander, Colonel Cathcart has ambitions to become a general and in order to look good so that he will be promoted, Cathcart continuously increases the requirements on his men. At first, the requirement is that after flying 25 missions, the men can go home. But Cathcart keeps raising those missions every time Yossarian gets close to completing them. This mirrors Bush’s surge and his hopes of improving his pole numbers. He’s asking the men who have already done their duty to go back.

“Would it be any less terrible had they all been new men?” Asks Colonel Cathcart’s assistant, Colonel Korn, when the chaplain complains about men who have already flown 70 missions who are now required to fly 80. The answer can never be anything other than it is terrible no matter who is sent. The chaplain realizes the questions is Immoral Logic.

In the book the military rule, Catch-22 becomes the reason for all sorts of arrests. “Catch-22 didn’t exist but it didn’t matter. What did matter is that everyone thought it existed. This was worse because there was no text to refute,...burn.”

In a sense, this is what has happened in America and the question of patriotism. “You’re either for us or against us.” Cathcart and Korn implied THEY were the country. “You are either for US or against your country.” That is exactly the choice Bush left America with when he demanded we go to war. I believe Bush knew that Iraq was no real threat to America and that invading Iraq would only benefit his future political aspirations and the businesses of his cronies.

The big Catch-22 of the Iraq war is Bush’s logic that we had to invade the stable country, Iraq, in order to make America more secure. Now, we must make Iraq stable before we can leave, otherwise America would be less secure.

In a similar way, Colonel Cathcart was trapped in his own Catch-22. If he ever bought into Yossarian’s argument that he be allowed to leave because he completed the required 25 missions, Cathcart would be forced to let everyone leave. Then he’d have to request new soldiers and he’d look bad.

Spoiler. Yossarian has a big epiphany. He has spent the entire book trying to get out of flying the missions that might get him killed. He even stayed in the hospital. He understood his own Catch-22 that he was so concerned about living that he was practically dead. But the epiphany shows him that all he needs to do is decide to leave and then act upon that decision.

End of Spoiler. As we all know, bush is the decider, bet he’s not much of an actor–well you know what I mean. America must just decide to leave. The immoral men have already called it cut and run. But it’s better than to stay and loose and loose to infinity and beyond....

The Iraqis see no urgency so they’re content to settle new and old scores. Once we do say we’re leaving, they must start talking to each other or they’ll have a civil war. That’s the real freedom that they always had even without George Bush. That’s the freedom we all have.

We need to convince America to leave. Catch-22 makes it clear that we won’t be free of danger, but we will escape this to live another day:

“Don’t talk to me about fighting to save my country. I’ve been fighting all along to save my country. Now I’m going to fight a little to save myself. The country’s not in danger any more, but I am.”

The good Catch-22
Yossarian: “If I were to give up my life now, it wouldn’t be for my country. It would be for (Colonels) Cathcart and Korn. So I’m turning my bombsight in for the duration. From now on I’m thinking only of me.”

Major Danby replied with a superior smile, “But Yossarian, suppose everyone felt that way.”

Then I’d certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way wouldn’t I?” Yossarian replied.