9/11 Baby! Partay!

What the hell are they thinking?

The Pentagon would hold a massive march and country music concert to mark the fourth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in an announcement tucked into an Iraq war briefing today.

"This year the Department of Defence will initiate an America Supports Your Freedom Walk," Rumsfeld said, adding that the march would remind people of "the sacrifices of this generation and of each previous generation".

The march will start at the Pentagon, where nearly 200 people died on September 11, 2001, and end at the National Mall with a show by country star Clint Black.

First of all, a full on celebration to commemorate 9/11? How you say...tasteless, inappropriate, desperate?

And think about it, it's a "march" on 9/11 to celebrate "freedom," presumably that of the Iraqis. So, in other words, not only does it continue to conflate 9/11 and Iraq as if they are actually related other than in a neocon's wet dream, but it also provides a physical manifestation of Bush's ultimate Iraq war mantra: "freedom is on the march." It's pure Rovian brilliance...cringe-inducing and embarrasing...but brilliant.

But if that's too subtle for some, Salon enlightens us as to the significance of Clint Black's headlining the concert:

Black is the man behind "I Raq and Roll," a country ditty that conflates Saddam Hussein with "the devil" who attacked the United States on 9/11: "We can't ignore the devil, he'll keep coming back for more ... If they won't show us their weapons, we might have to show them ours. It might be a smart bomb -- they find stupid people, too. And if you stand with the likes of Saddam, one just might find you."