Upside-down land is spatial and temporal

Continuing in the vein of Balkin's note below, you should have noticed by now that the administration's upside-down land, the possible world it has created, has both spatial and temporal dimensions. Validity functions in this possible world in causal reverse. Let's remind ourselves of the scorecard.

First, there is the irony about WMDs in the Washington Post report today pointed out by Balkin.

Second, there is the rise of Iraq as a center for terrorism post-invasion, something that didn't exist prior to the war.

Third, there is the move towards Islamism and alliance with Iran, something contrary to the rhetoric about building a stable liberal democracy in the early days of the occupation. The Green Zone in Baghdad is another way of showing just what is actually meant by "laboratory of democracy."

Fourth, there is the insistence on a lower troop level than necessary, most adamantly made by Rumsfeld pre-war and post-invasion.

Fifth, there is greater potential today for terrorist attacks in the US and Europe than there was prior to the war. We've seen them in Spain and Britain. No telling where the next ones will be.

Sixth, there was the claim that the invasion would boost human rights in Iraq. Women's rights are human rights. They're about to go out the window.

Seventh, there are right-wing bloggers and commentators who maintain that American soldiers' deaths in Iraq are due to the soldiers not being attentive enough to the risks of their situation. So, troops sent to Iraq to support an illegal invasion that has created anarchy and insurgent and terrorist violence are themselves responsible for dying at the hands of insurgents and terrorists.

We could go on. But anyone can see that this war is not only a failure, it is lost. Perhaps the only thing that is true is the pre-war administration claim that the US would have to side with unsavory characters such as Uzebekistan and Pakistan in the "war on terror." But the striking element that arises from all the points above is that any truth to them has come from the administration's own creation. Thus, it now also claims that events and facts created ex post facto by the invasion and occupation can serve as justifications for the invasion and occupation.

Barry Blitt, cartoonist for the NY Times, gets it right below. If I could draw, I'd try to add the temporal element.