Two wrongs are never right
December 23rd, 2006 by Wil Robinson
I find it hard to write about the events of the world when so much appears to be going wrong, and apparently lessons never learned. Instead I have been focusing on other writing, attempting to divert my attention from the human misery that is the modern world. The year 2006 has been a great year for me personally, but I find little solace in that fact when I consider the year millions of people have faced this year. Perhaps even more discouraging is looking ahead to what they face in 2007.
The American public eagerly awaits President Bush’s decision over what to do in Iraq in light of ongoing violence and a new Secretary of Defense. I was against the war from the beginning, for obvious reasons (for those right-wing hawks out there, those obvious reasons would be facts and intelligent analysis - something apparently that doesn’t factor into the neo-cons’ decision making process).
But as the civil war in Iraq rages on, there are calls for the troops to come home, that the civil war “isn’t our problem,” as if somehow the invasion with no post-war plan wasn’t America’s fault as well. Now with calls for troop withdrawal being echoed by even Republicans pandering to their constituencies, I find myself at odds with the anti-war crowd. As protests continue calling for withdrawal, citing the reason that the presence of American troops are “inflaming” the violence, and many in government apparently considering such an action, I can’t help but feel anger at those very same anti-war voices.
The anti-war camp claims to own the moral high ground, to care about human life, to respect the rights of people, and asserts that war obliterates all those in the name of power and money. But in the same breath, they call for American troops to come home. Are Americans so callous that they are willing to sacrifice the lives of millions of Iraqis just because they aren’t falling in line with the pre-designated “plan?” Are Americans so heartless as to only care about American soldiers’ lives, and not at all for Iraqis? Do Americans only value that which is red, white and capitalist - and care nothing for the brown, Muslim and other?
America got itself into this war based on lies and misinformation, aided by propaganda spewed by the allegedly “liberal media.” Bush and his neo-con buddies thought the golden brick road of warfare would lead to a world of riches and glory, where their Christian missionaries could have free roam to convert the masses of infidels. They thought the world was their playground, and the people on earth merely toys that lacked passion, heartache, love, humanity - and what is now quite evident - resistance.
I hope that 2007 brings the American people the message that more American troops will be going to Iraq - something that should have been done from the beginning. America needs enough troops on the ground to secure the country - even if that means 50,000 more soldiers. A withdrawal from Iraq - even this allegedly “staged” withdrawal - will mean even more than failure. It will mean that hundreds of thousands of more Iraqi lives will be deemed worthless. It isn’t axiomatic that increasing troop levels effectively sanctions Bush’s war. In fact, a dramatic increase might actually prove that the administration waged a poorly planned and illegal war that was based more in fantasy than facts.
It may be true that a continued American presence in Iraq will hurt the image of the U.S., and in all likelihood, already has and will continue to create more terrorists. The war will make America less safe, despite claims made by the administration. An American presence in Iraq will lead to more terrorist attacks on U.S. soil in the years to come - but that is the price America has to pay for acting in its own selfish interests with little regard for the other.
It was the price America paid on September 11, 2001, for a misguided foreign policy that has strengthened dictators and thwarted democracy across the Middle East and Southeast Asia. It was the price America paid for intervening on behalf of the Israelis and the Maronite Christians in Lebanon in 1983. It was the price America paid for orchestrating the overthrow of numerous democratically elected regimes over the last fifty years. And it will be the price America will eventually pay for supporting corrupt regimes in Pakistan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
So rather than a “cut and run” plan that will leave millions of Iraqis helpless against extremism and violence, I want the opposite. But I don’t want that effort to be without accountability. I don’t want to hear Bushspeak (pun intended) about what a wonderful idea this whole war was. Instead I want responsibility taken - at least once in this administration - for the ignorant and idiotic policies that have ruined so many lives. I want America to face up to the fact that you can’t violently impose your will in the world when it’s convenient or economically beneficial and not expect to pay the price.
The invasion of Iraq may have been wrong, but it matters little now. What matters is the people there…the soldiers and the Iraqis. The American soldier and the Iraqi citizen are connected - they’re both in the line of fire and they both need help.
Taking American troops out now is the wrong thing to do. Perhaps even more wrong than the invasion itself.
Tags: media, Bush, war, collateral damage, Cheney
Nothing is ever black and white. It’s fact that I, as one of those anti-war protesters you mention, am as liable as any neo-con to forget. There is no easy solution to the horror America, led by a chest-pounding, gibbering George W. Bush, created in Iraq. I’ve known and been the close friend of many soldiers and airmen of all ranks in the course of my life; I’m a veteran and I know the sacrifices they make in their daily lives in peacetime and in war. It chills my heart to know that these good people are throwing their lives away for the lies and lucre of their crooked, greedy Commander in Chief and his cronies. I ache for the futility of it and it makes me deeply angry. Naturally I want them to be brought home, back to their families, far from the terror of snipers and roadside bombs and firefights.
Yet your words are wise, Wil. As a nation, America has committed a great crime in Iraq. As an American citizen, I understand that there must be atonement and reparations to those who’ve lost everything because of it — on all sides. My disgust is so great that my main desire is to first, work to stop my country’s part in the slaughter and looting. I want our soldiers away from there, where their presence only incites more violence against them and against any Iraqi who shows any support for them.
I’m aware that pulling troops out of Iraq is not a good or complete solution. We opened a terrible Pandora’s Box when we started the war there — something you and I both knew would happen. And yet, I don’t think that sending more troops now, so late, will do much more than inflame the sectarian groups in Iraq even more. I believe that to send more American troops will only guarantee that even more people on all sides of the conflict, soldiers and civilians, will die.
There is also the question of where those 20,000 more troops will come from. The American military is on the rack. Perhaps we can come up with more warm bodies to throw into the conflagration, but the equipment, the vehicles, the life-support they depend upon in order to survive, somehow, are in short supply — and we’re not doing much to address that problem. As we civilian Americans blithely go shopping, as our President tells us to, we aren’t working to repair or replace the ramparts battered down by the war. As wrong as it is to send our soldiers, most of them from impoverished circumstances at home, to die for Bush’s lies, we only add insult to injury sending them without the support they depend upon in materiel and equipment. And there has been no talk at the top levels of our government about how we’ll do that.
I believe we need to bring our forces home. And even as we do that, we need to hold Bush and his enablers accountable and punish them for their hubris and their war crimes — a punishment that illustrates America’s genuine sorrow and chagrin for its dark response of terror for terror.
At the same time, the money we’re spending to create chaos and misery in that region should continue to be spent — except it should be spent on the Iraqi people themselves in a real effort to rebuild what we’ve destroyed. It will take years and years of diplomacy, of working with nations we’ve alienated, to achieve. It will be a huge financial burden, but it will be, at least, a burden of good rather than one of continued, wholesale destruction. And it might not work. There might be nothing we can do that will ever restore any semblance of peace to Iraq. This is the legacy of my generation, which somehow didn’t learn the lessons of WWII, Korea or Vietnam. It’s a shameful one.
I wish I knew of a better solution. None brought up so far have much hope. Perhaps a few hundred thousand more American troops could impose an enforced peace in Iraq over time, giving everyone a chance to breathe, rethink, and lay down arms voluntarily. But the few thousand troops now suggested will not be enough, and America can barely support even them. I honestly believe they’ll only be gasoline tossed on the wildfire we’ve started in Iraq and the Middle East, not water.
Unfortunately, even 50,000 more troops will not be enough to secure Iraq. Study of previous wars demonstrate that 400,000 troops are needed to secure Iraq. This is about what the generals wanted three years ago. However, this is no longer possible today.
Once we realize that the U.S. cannot put enough troops on the ground to win, the option of withdrawal starts to look a lot better.
Thank you for the thoughtful post. I have no brilliant thoughts as to where to go from here with this debacle, but I appreciate your reflections.
And happiest of holidays to you and yours. I hope the post-solstice return of the light is a powerful metaphor for this coming year.
…where their Christian missionaries could have free roam to convert the masses of infidels…
Actually, Will, you’ve got it the otehr way round. The missionaries are certainly there but they work for the other side. Abu Ghraib is an example of their ‘work’.
My view on this, Wil, is: If we withdraw all forces NOW, there may well be 100,000 or more Iraqis slaughtered. However, if we remain, there will still be over 100,000 Iraqis slain in the future. The middle-eastern people have a five thousand year history of tribal mentality. We cannot, and should not, take on the responsibility of being the World’s Policeman; that is Imperialism at it’s worse. We must learn to live and let live. Peoples of the world are all different. It is arrogant thinking to say that we know the ONLY way to live. My heart grieves for the Iraqi people, but it also grieves for the people of Sudan, North Korea, Indonesia, China, and elsewhere. As noble as our goals may seem, it is unrealistic to think that we can solve the world’s problems with brute, military force. A cursory look at history will quickly show, that empires are not a sustainable, viable option. The world will NEVER be completely rid of evil, but that doesn’t mean we should submerse ourselves in it and become a part of it.
Powerful words… Very thought provoking.
Regards
- fc
Wil, have a Happy New Year.
Hey Wil - I think I have to go with Brother Tim on this one. Do you really think a troup surge will improve things there? I agree we messed it up, but it just seems like staying there, or increasing our presence will do more harm than good.
Mike, Wren, BT, Critic -
I respectfully disagree. The 1991 Gulf War saw 500,000 troops on the ground - and that was just to push Saddam out of Kuwait. Now, in 2003, the US tries to invade and occupy the entire country with 130,000?
They needed more troops from the beginning, and now they just have to bite the bullet and do it. Standing by and watching the chaos or, worse, withdrawing altogether, will only increase the bloodshed.
Consider this - more troops on the ground in Iraq will do a couple of things:
1) It will increase American targets, increase the number of US soldiers that lose their lives, and make the American homeland a target for international terrorist acts in the years to come.
2) It will harden the view that many already have of the US - that “American” policies will only bring destruction and bloodshed, and should be resisted by any means. This will create more “terrorists” and make America LESS SAFE.
But consider the alternative: If the US withdraws or continues to be mired in a civil war it can’t contain or suppress, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis will die.
I agree whole-heartedly with BT, in that world policeman is “imperialism at its worst.” But the decision was already made that the US would play this role in Iraq. No matter which idiot made that decision, allowing a civil war to continue that begun only because of a half-assed occupation and poorly planned invasion is not the right decision.
The US decided to risk the lives of its brave soldiers for a worthy cause (apparently the spread of democracy.) It can’t bail out now just because the going got tough.
So what do you all think we should have done in response to 911? I understand that the decisions made were not the best decisions so what are suggestions? Complaining about what others had the responsibility to make decisions about does not really solve anything. Suggestions to the leaders that whether we all agree or not are in fact the people that have the responsibility of trying to please us all which is not only an impossible task on a small scale but think of the burden that the United States people put on a decision maker. We cannot make up are minds on anything. One day we want to show the rest of the world that no one will be allowed to come here and hurt us. Can any one of us think back to the Tuesday and Wednesday that we sat in front of our televisions and felt fear and outrage and wanted something done. I agree that regardless of whether the decisions were made correctly or not we are there now and we should finish what we started. How do you justify quitting this far in.