Types of Denial

Wikipedia describes 6 types of denial:

1. Denial of fact: This form of denial is where someone avoids a fact by lying.
2. Denial of responsibility: This form of denial involves avoiding personal responsibility by blaming, minimizing or justifying.
3. Denial of impact: Denial of impact involves a person avoiding thinking about or nderstanding the harms their behavior have caused to themselves or others.
4. Denial of awareness: People using this type of denial will avoid pain and harm by stating they were in a different state of awareness.
5. Denial of cycle: Many who use this type of denial will say things such as, "it just happened."
6. Denial of denial: This can be a difficult concept for many people to identify in themselves, but is a major barrier to changing hurtful behaviors.

Commentary Magazine has an article up as a preview from it’s June issue by Norman Podhoretz called “The Case for Bombing Iran” and in it he addresses the denial involved in the threat represented by Iran:

But here we come upon an interesting difference between then and now. Whereas in the late 1930’s almost everyone believed, or talked himself into believing, that Hitler was telling the truth when he said he had no further demands to make after Munich, no one believes that Ahmadinejad is telling the truth when he says that Iran has no wish to develop a nuclear arsenal. In addition, virtually everyone agrees that it would be best if he were stopped, only not, God forbid, with military force—not now, and not ever.

Here we are faced with a threat that is tangible, that is imminent, that people recognize as a grave danger, yet no one wants to do what might be ultimately necessary: attack Iran.

Amir Taheri writes in the NY Post that:

Strategists in Tehran appear convinced that an American retreat will take place within the next two years at most. They are also determined not to allow the United States to shape a regional alliance capable of protecting a new balance of power…..

Early signs show that a long, hot summer of conflict, perhaps even full-scale war, is ahead of us in the Middle East. The perception that the United States is divided and weak has encouraged the most radical elements throughout the region, including Tehran and Damascus.

With what was left of the so-called realists and pragmatists on the defensive everywhere, the radical agenda is unchallenged. As Ali Khamenei, the "Supreme Guide" of the Khomeinist movement, said last week, Tehran can deploy suicide-martyrdom groups, a weapon "many times stronger than the atomic bombs used in Hiroshima."

The Guardian, in a cover story by Simon Tisdall on Monday titled Iran's secret plan for summer offensive to force US out of Iraq, wrote that:

Iran is secretly forging ties with al-Qaida elements and Sunni Arab militias in Iraq in preparation for a summer showdown with coalition forces intended to tip a wavering US Congress into voting for full military withdrawal, US officials say.

Later, Tisdall writes, quoting U.S. sources:

"Iran is perpetuating the cycle of sectarian violence through support for extra-judicial killing and murder cells. They bring Iraqi militia members and insurgent groups into Iran for training and then help infiltrate them back into the country. We have plenty of evidence from a variety of sources. There's no argument about that. That's just a fact," the senior official in Baghdad said.”…

In trying to force an American retreat, Iran's hardline leadership also hoped to bring about a humiliating political and diplomatic defeat for the US that would reduce Washington's regional influence while increasing Tehran's own.

But if Iran succeeded in "prematurely" driving US and British forces out of Iraq, the likely result would be a "colossal humanitarian disaster" and possible regional war drawing in the Sunni Arab Gulf states, Syria and Turkey, he said.

Denial is a powerful human function and the string of recent news, and the overall meme that has driven debate on the Iraq war, is clearly pointing to denial of a fully transparent reality. If Americans already feel that Iraq is lost, and that we can simply leave and it will all go away, the chances that we will deal with Iran before they deal with us appear slim.

As I type, the NYT just posted the results of a poll titled "Poll Shows Opposition to Iraq War at All Time High."

Americans now view the war in Iraq more negatively than at any time since the war began, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. Six in 10 Americans say the United States should have stayed out of Iraq and more than three in four say things are going badly there – including nearly half who say
things are going very badly, the poll found.

The article does note that Americans still support funding the war - as long as the Iraqi government meets certain benchmarks. Oh - and then we can leave.

In any case, the chances that this generation will approach the challenges it faces in the manner of past generations appears depressingly low, not when Iraq, let alone the War are a political football in Washington. It now appear that domestic politics in Washington are in themselves the bigger Weapon of Mass Destruction that threatens our security.