Facts Without Understanding

One spent some time listening to the testimony of General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker on the status of the illegal US occupation of Iraq on TV today and it struck one as a classic case of a preoccupation with facts coupled with an indifference to truths, the latter not achievable without reference to the concepts of Naomi Klein in The Shock Doctrine, in my opinion. One can be blinded by facts if one refuses to place them in a contextual framework that simplifies and interprets them. One must look deeper than the facts. Percept vs. concept. Both must be brought to bear if understanding is to be achieved.