by Bart Whiteman
posted August 9, 2003
 Bart Whiteman |
According to President Bush, everything is fine and on course. We have done something significant to keep terrorism in check. Strange how if you asked the rest of the world right now – let’s say Indonesia – there might be some disagreement on this point.
The repeated images of Iraqi citizens on the rampage destroying their own streets and cussing us out in Arabic doesn’t exactly support that assessment either.
American soldiers continue to be picked off at a steady pace of one or two every other day or so. At that rate, it will take the Iraqis about 392 years to eliminate our troops entirely. By that time, perhaps they will have acclimated themselves to both the joys and perils of imposed democracy.
This depends on whether or not we can withstand the Chinese water torture approach to foreign occupation. This form of torture features dripping water applied to the victim very slowly, a drop at a time, until the victim goes stark raving mad. Check out the eyes of some of the soldiers’ wives that have been appearing on television interviews lately. Drip, drip, drip.
It really hasn’t sunken in domestically that this Iraqi War is a complete departure from anything we have ever tried before. We are outside our own hemisphere and maybe out of our depth. We have been there before, but usually when we got dragged into someone else’s conflict and then took it over, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. This one is our baby. And the car is being driven by someone who may not even have a valid license let alone auto insurance.
When we were just bombing Baghdad, it was kind of pretty. There was a sense of excitement among the reporting press. It was like a light show. It was also photographed at a comfortable distance. Now that we own (?) the streets, it’s not so pretty any more. In fact, it’s getting pretty ugly.
We may have painted ourselves into a corner, as well. Now that we are there, how do we really plan to get out? Our leaders have offered no clarity or direction on this subject. There hasn’t been a word about what would define or constitute a time when we could get out. There has been no estimate about the ultimate cost of our little escapade or how we are going to pay for it because nobody knows. There is also the problem that historically once nations venture down the path of invasion, it is very hard to rein in the ponies. Politically, it’s kind of nice to keep the war going for awhile because it stymies the opposition totally. You can’t raise a voice of protest without being branded a “traitor.” We are also firmly established in the most volatile place in the world with the possibility of about a dozen other wars breaking out at any moment all around us. How can we leave?
So, we have the prospect of perpetual war. It can’t end. Because then there would begin a time of assessment and a reconciling of the books. While the war is being fought, no one can peer over the shoulder of the people running it.
I do feel sorry for the American troops and their families who were sold on the idea that this would be a simple police action and that it really would contribute to making our nation more secure. They were also used relentlessly as photo op props for a struggling politician. The first premise has proved to be false, and we really are no more or less secure now than when the war started. The forces and mindsets that are driving world terrorism are not going to be deterred or modified by what we have done. If anything there is more fuel in the fire, and it is the kind of fuel that does not necessarily explode quickly or all at once. This is why we are out of our depth here. We have chosen to fight a war in a place and in a manner that is merely picking up the same sword that has been lying on the ground for centuries. Periodically, it gets laid to rest only to rise again to be wielded in the latest attempt to settle things once and for all. Every generation thinks they will be the one to complete the task. How many of those rocks that are now being hurled at our vehicles were also hurled at other armies in the past?
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