The New Immorality of Iraq War
Insanity is defined as repeating one mistaken action again and again, each time expecting a better result that never comes. Prime example: the United States in Iraq. Washington perceived a weapons of mass destruction threat from Saddam Hussein, but instead of responding with diplomacy — internationally coordinated weapons inspections — it went to war. When Saddam Hussein was toppled, the initiative should have passed from the Pentagon to a State Department-led program of stabilization and reconstruction, but instead a crudely violent military occupation was begun. Diplomacy was once again rejected.
Today, the United States, fearing a geo-political setback that will undercut the broader “war on terror,” is putting the diehard goal of military “victory” ahead of the diplomatic initiatives that alone can enable the reconstruction of Iraqi society. The needed spirit of cooperation among Iraqi factions, and from other nations, will never materialize as long as the United States pursues the fantasy that its armed might will at last prevail. Once again, diplomacy is being rejected in favor of war. This is insane.Given the mayhem that continues to unfold in Iraq, President Bush is properly mocked for having stood before that “Mission Accomplished” banner five years ago this week. But a failure to distinguish between the aggressive war that overthrew Saddam Hussein and the collapse of Iraqi social order that followed is part of what fuels the ongoing US mistake.
However misconceived, the project of ridding the world of Saddam and his Ba’athist regime was indeed a military operation, and it succeeded. But bringing order to a post-Saddam Iraq, especially once sectarian rivalries were set loose, was not a project for which the US war machine was remotely suited. The unilateral character of Bush’s intervention made multilateral civic reconstruction after Saddam impossible, with other nations content to let Washington stew in its own arrogance. “Coalition” notwithstanding, the almost exclusively US occupation became the inflammable medium in which sectarian disputes flared, with Iraq’s warring parties united only in seeing that occupation as an enemy.
Let’s call this repeated insanity the mistake of “supermilitarism,” choosing war over diplomacy, and expecting order to follow, instead of chaos. The mistake was made at the beginning, in the middle, and is being repeated now, in what should be the end. The mistake is so deeply rooted in American structures of imagination, economy, and government that it isn’t even perceived as a mistake by those in power. And it threatens the future as much as it burdens the past.
When Hillary Clinton offers as her solution to the problem of Iran the threat of “obliteration,” she is in a cell of the same moral prison that prefers war to diplomacy. As any neophyte foreign service officer would know, a threat like hers only reinforces the very impulses that make Iran a problem in the first place.
In the present phase of the Iraq war, this strategic impoverishment has added a new dimension to the war’s immorality. Rather than acknowledge its mistake, Washington pursues the vindication of its policy — but not for Iraq’s sake. Rather, the purpose now is the rescuing of US “credibility,” lest the nation’s power elsewhere be undercut. According to this realist-school analysis, American “success” in Iraq is essential if the global war on terror is to be won. Enemies like Al Qaeda will be dangerously empowered everywhere if US military forces are seen to have been defeated.
The “surge” is touted as proof that American armed might can improve things, even though daily news reports say otherwise. That is because American “success” is not the same thing as success for the people of Iraq. By itself, the US military will never prove capable of providing them with stability and security. Worse, the US occupation will continue to prevent the development by Iraqis themselves of authentic, trans-sectarian security forces.
The occupation is the mistake that keeps on taking.
The healing of Iraq would be far more readily achieved by an American acknowledgment of failure, and by the engagement of other nations that such an acknowledgment would immediately invite. But insanely holding on in Iraq until Washington can claim something like “victory” means that this globally oriented geo-political ambition — America’s standing in the world — is being bought at the price of Iraqi blood.
James Carroll’s column appears regularly in the Globe.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company
But as McCain says, “We can’t leave now.” We Americans have to staff that georgous, $78 billion dollar, 104 acre embassy complex in Baghdad that Halliburton built. We need Blackwater troops stationed there to protect it and we need our rotating states National Guard troops over there to protect the oil wells and pipe lines.
If we don’t maintain a strong military presence in Iraq, the Iraqis will attack us again and we’ll have another 9-11. We cannot just leave and have another embarassing scene like we had in Vietnam. We do learn from our mistakes.
BTW, Senator John McCain is running for the presidency and would appreciate your vote in November. You really have no other decent option.
Wake up America, don’t listen to nonsense like this delusional author James Carroll wrote here. He’s just attempting to make sense and you all know whAt that means.___LEFT WING LIBERALS.
Do you really want another Saddam hanging out?
It’s about the OIL stupid!
If we want to see how this ends, just look at the history of America and relace “terrorists” with “savages” which unfortunately means our future history books will ignore all of the bad things that happened as we invaded and occupied new lands and resources.
KEM - don’t forget the just released plans for major luxury hotels, entertainment centers and living accommodations in the Green Zone.
That future profit must also be protected.
The Green Zone - the world’s largest and most expensive gated community.
To be used as model for all the rich folks in the US?
P.S.
Do you think Kennedy was assassinated for including the following in a speech in June 1963:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1963kennedy-peacestrat.html
“Towards a Strategy of Peace, June 10, 1963″
“..What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children-not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women, not merely peace in our time but peace for all time. .
First: Let us examine our attitude toward peace itself. Too many of us think it is impossible. Too many think it unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable, that mankind is doomed, that we are gripped by forces we cannot control.
We need not accept that view. Our problems are manmade; therefore they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as be wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man’s reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable, and we believe they can do it again.”
KEM - And sitting poolside in the evenings with our umbrella drinks watching the shooting stars. Wait a minute. Those aren’t shooting stars.
War and militarism are related to the planet MARS in mythology. The concept of an angry vengeful god fits the persona of Mars and has NOTHING to do with the universal laws. As a matter of fact, the 12 positions of the Zodiac, likely analogous to Jesus’ TWELVE disciples and/or Abraham’s TWELVE tribes form a circle where powers are balanced, a diverse set of criteria that HOLD together, the CENTER holds. When one archetype is given dominion, and in the case of the US and much of the modern industrialized world, that IS Mars… ALL life suffers.
EVERY thing in nature reflects the circle… this idea of subsuming ALL principles into ‘one god’ has tragically granted all homage to Mars. Jesus tried to enlarge the spiritual dialog by adding the more Yin/Venus applications of empathy and compassion; but the Master’s name was instead used as a CAUSE to GO to war, i.e. to maintain the prior war-oriented ways instead of rising above them.
That modern mankind still falls for the lethal conceit that war reflects Divine will is its own prescription for massive disaster. That is why mystics have been murdered, burnt at the stake, and in modern times too often silenced. But there IS a higher unifying truth and many of the teachings of past illumined Ones reflects it. Truth never goes out of style, no matter how the proponents of limited thought berate it.
Hillary’s cartoonish bluster about Iran go along with her cartoonish “balls” that keep getting pinned on her by her admirers.
@curmudgeon99
Thanks for the great speech by that excellent statesman, John F. Kennedy. We have not seen his intellect or humanity in the White House since.
Death tokens like Bush, Cheney, and Clinton deserve our absolute rejection. There is no image more humorous than Hillary with nuts, nor more terrifying. The Empire is crumbling and the “nuts” are everywhere.
Hi ~Crumudgeon~. Thank you for that link. As to luxury hotels and such in the Green Zone? Bet you and I wouldn’t want to ever be there. First of all, the DU readings in Baghdad are still 2,000+ above any safe level.
Secondly, someday I fear, a similar type of Chinese designed rocket the N. Vietnamese used against our bases in Vietnam, will likely be used against the green Zone. They were nick-named “telephone poles”.
The deadly rockets were easily transported by hand in sections and were easily set up and fired. They had about a ten mile range, were 20 feet in length, with eight feet of high explosives and they could and did demolish large, two story buildings.
At Danang, or “rocket city” it was not unusual to have six or eight come in almost every night. It was like 1,000 pound bombs going off and one didn’t have a clue of where they may hit. ___ Scary.
As long as we maintan a military presense or an embassy in Iraq, ___ the war will continue, for two years, five years, twenty or a hundred years. Those people will not stop trying to kill us while we occupy their land.
Good one ~VOXCLAMANTIS~ You got it right.
Hillary knew what she was doing with her bellicose rant against Iran. Donations poured in, probably in large part from AIPAC. The American public has been convinced that Iran is likely to be a real threat. (5 Iranian speedboats about 15 miles off the Iranian coast has been turned into an act of war, basically, and a misquote about the Iranian President wanting to wipe Israel off the map that has been widely disseminated and believed.) So,politically, this was a great move for HIllary. Our three dismal choices for President are very disturbing, but the lack of intelligence of the American public is equally disturbing.
WTF:
JFK was agreat statesman, but he had his own set of problems, Bay of Pigs, blockade of Cuba, Viet Nam, to name a few.
I don’t believe that he would have done any better with the world situation than others. Communism was still his axis of evil, and he would have done ANYTHING to prevent it’s spread, he just didn’t have the time to do it.
This article is pretty lousy. The average reader will perceive it as an “antiwar” article, but it’s “antiwar” content is only shallow & limited. Carroll is confusing well-intentioned readers (& apparently himself as well) by portraying US govt actions as “mistakes,” when actually, they are deliberate & fully premeditated crimes.
Carroll writes, “Washington perceived a weapons of mass destruction threat from Saddam Hussein, but instead of responding with diplomacy… it went to war. When Saddam Hussein was toppled, the initiative should have passed from the Pentagon to a State Department-led program of stabilization and reconstruction, but instead a crudely violent military occupation was begun. Diplomacy was once again rejected…”
First of all, Washington didn’t “perceive” any WMD threat. The WMD bullsh*t was a conscious & deliberate lie, as they knew perfectly well.
Secondly, it wasn’t a “mistake” or a mystery that a “crudely violent military occupation was begun” rather than a “program of stabilization and reconstruction.” The US never had the slightest intention of reconstructing anything. The whole point was seizing control of the region & its oil. Doubtless the war planners hoped that no strong Iraqi resistance would emerge. But they were perfectly aware that this was a significant risk — and when resistance did emerge, Washington’s only concern was to crush it, by any means necessary. They were perfectly willing to shatter all of Iraq society, to kill millions of people, & to create millions of refugees, if that’s what it took.
It’s not a “mistake,” Carroll! Wake up! The US government is a murderous gang of thugs, trying to gain control over the resources of other nations by military force!! This is no mistake, misunderstanding, or mere accident. It’s deliberate, & entirely characteristic of US national leaders.
Note also that Carroll takes the concept of the “broader War on Terror” seriously. This is also an example of the weakmindedness of liberals. The WoT is an entirely bogus construct — a rhetorical device merely intended to provide cover for US military aggression, wherever & whenever Washington sees fit.
@Edward1793
1st, follow the link to full text of Kenedy’s speech.
Then let us know if you still feel the same.
It’s all I ask.
Why not rename the Green Zone Dien Bien Phu? It’s only a matter of time.
What about the water park? Remember the Scottish company with the contract for a water amusement park way back in 2004? Consumerism for the Iraqi masses - way to go, America!
RichM is correct, although I would not castigate Carroll too much as he has been one of the leading critics of this illegal war since its inception.
The war on terror is a hoax - devised as a cover for the corporate world to control the tax base of the US and siphon it into their private coffers. Business used to be ‘private to private’ enterprise; now, it is the well-placed securing your tax dollars from the well-heeled politicians in your Capitol. it is a game where life and death are meaningless - where power and control are everything - and where the very concept of the ‘Shining City upon the Hill” is made a mockery (it pretty much always was).
This country is being stolen - and a growing number of citizens understand it. There will no doubt be a reckoning - sooner or later. The sooner the better as it will be less violent while the people still have some semblance of political power. If later - the people will have no recourse but to revolution - just as our forefathers felt they had no recourse. And just as the world eventually turned on Hiter, they too will turn on America - and history will see itself in the mirror and wonder how such a juxtaposition could have ever taken place.
The answer: the ignorance and apathy of Americans will allow it to happen. Jefferson was correct when he said, and I paraphrase, “A nation cannot expect to be both free and ignorant at the same time; such a thing never has been, and never will be. . .Why do you think the ruling elite don’t give a damn about the public education system - its very ineptitute is the ruling class’s ticket to perpectual power.
curmudgeon99:
I was one of those that lived through the Kenendy era, I was not of voting age when he was first elected but did fully support his campaign, taking a lot of flack from my supposed learned elders, parents, and most everbody else who felt that the republicans and Nixon we far better suited to run the country.
I entered the Army during his time in office, and was there when he was killed. I went through the problems with the blockade of Cuba, and remember the failed Bay of Pigs. I remember how wonderful his speeches were, and how in awe of him I was. I thought that we are truely enetering a time where things will change.
Sadly, as full of hope as his speeches were, his actions did not always fulfill the dreams that were in his speeches. I can’t fully understand why this was, and at the time I didn’t really care. In retrospect, I have grown to understand how it all happened.
After Ike and his henchmen the Dulles’, MaCarthy’s witch hunts, the recession of the 1950’s, Korea, and the continual communist threats, JFK was like a breath of fresh air. I thought that nothing could be worse than what we went through in the 1950’s.
Kennedy was one of the better presidents we have had, but like people that get to that level of importance, words and actions don’t always go together.
I not only re-read the speech, I heard it when delivered. But my opinion is still that he was an elegant statesman, a wonderful leader, but a product of that era.
vox–that was a good one!
At the time JFK was in office, there were also still limits on what a President could do.
I loved his speeches, when I could hear them. I was on a small island in TX in the middle of a republican husband and his whole christian conservative family. The assassination and funeral was celebrated with lots of food and festivity. Reminded me of the crowds in old England watching a drawing and quartering.
RichM Thank you for clearing things up for Mr Carroll. I was very surprised at this point in time to see an article still mouthing white house talking points. I’m not sure why this article was even cleared for listing in Common Dreams.
To paraphase Freud, neurosis emerges when the individual makes his or her problem the solution.
We live within a corporate dominated garrison state. That is the problem. What do our elite and their puppet politicians do to solve the problem?
They spend more (of our taxes)and rely more on the forceful use of destructive power generated by the corporate-dominated garrison state to solve the problems that emerged from our elite’s earlier huge outlays and use of the destructive power of the same military-corporate complex.
Of course, this complex acts as the international eyes, ears and arms of our plutocratic masters.
It functions to spy on, record the, and, if needed, to crush all nations, groups, organizations and individuals that threaten the masters’ control over access to scarce resources.
Carroll needs to switch from a diet of pablum to a regimen of solid food.
James Carroll is eminently correct when he writes that the US keeps on doing the wrong thing in Iraq by picking the war option instead of choosing diplomacy. The US came to Iraq for WMD’s but stayed for the oil. That rich prize is what all the fighting is about. The Kurds want it, the Sunnis and Shias want it, the US wants it, and on and on. Taking ourselves out of this hostile environment will save a lot of lives and permit the local population to figure out a solution to their oil problem. It will also force us to consider new approaches to our energy needs.
George Wanker Bush dreams of having a pecker as long as Mark Wahlberg’s in “Boogie Nights”. He dreams of dragging it along a red carpet that stretches to the horizon. The world will be stunned and amazed at his manhood. Instead, this miserable and pathetic excuse for a human being skulks through graveyards at night while the ghosts laugh at him behind his back.
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We know that George W. Bush is one of the insane, but is he also physically deformed????????//////
Are his daughters showing any of the Bush Family madnesses????????
Does anyone remember Kaiser Willie???????????
He was impotent, deformed and had the same Narcisistic Personality Disorders as President Bush. Some of his kids were idiots too. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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War is evil.
“Insanity: Persistent mental disorder or derangement. No longer in scientific use.”
Sorry, but the “Insanity is defined as repeating one mistaken action again and again, each time expecting a better result that never comes” cliche must be put to rest.
An extreme example: a batter swings for the wall every time he steps to the plate. Most of the time, he strikes out. But, once in a while - homerun. That’s stubborn, not insane.
And this is just patently way off: “Washington perceived a weapons of mass destruction threat from Saddam Hussein…” Washington, whatever that means, knew for a fact SH was weapons-less, not to mention air force-less, navy-less and almost army-less. Of all people, JC should know better than to write something both so vague and so incorrect.
Powell and Rice both publicly stated SH was virtually harmless just months before 911 “changed everything.” Everything but the well known lack of weapons of even minor destruction in Iraq.
Edward1793
Kennedy’s actions were sometimes at odds with his speeches?
Perhaps because speeches are meant to garner support rather than serve as an accurate reflection of one’s self. And don’t forget: Kennedy had a good speechwriter.
frank1569 -
I must disagree. A batter adjusts (location, timing, expectation of pitch), each time he/she goes to bat. Each at-bat is different for a good hitter. Rod Carew even had different stances for different pitchers.
Now, a bad hitter would do the same thing each time. In baseball terms that would be a bit insane and lead to a long minor league career.
—–
George Bush is no leader. Based on his miserable business career, he is incapable of successfully diplomatizing (my word).
Has the USA signed any treaties, except for trade agreements?
He probably is afraid of ‘losing his shirt’, just like his failed businesses.
Now, as Commander-in-Chief, he can ORDER people, bully them, to do his bidding. No need to lead, to convince, to negotiate.
It is natural for George to use military rather than diplomatic means, anywhere, anytime.
Kem and others on the whole ‘baghdad’ theme park: IF this actually go through, it will be nothing more than a confirmation that Iraq is a US protectorate that is about to undergo a corporate funded cultural genocide.
The ‘American Dream’… exported at the muzzle of a gun. Typical.
America has no standing in the world and has not had for decades. The world has long known, that like any schoolyard bully, the US cares only for itself and cares not a whit about how many millions of non-americans die as long as it can continue to believe its own bullshit and belief in its rightness and power. I’d say the most important lesson the world has learned is that americans equate one american death with ten thousand deaths of non-americans.
If one were to believe do as I do instead of do as I say, it is clear that America is one of the most violent, deadly, and aggressive nations on the planet …. actually, it is the most given the amount of slaughter it has initiated aroundt he world.
The irony is that whoever wrote this article still thinks America has standing to lose.
odoco - you might want to check out Dewey’s plans for ‘public education’ in the US, and how successful his vision of an ignorant, compliant, unthinking, but sufficiently skilled workforce has turned out. Like other such apparent ‘failures’ - this one was a well-planned strategy with a goal in mind that didn’t include the needs or desires of ‘We the people’
Ike was anti-war as much as JFK - but neither was free to follow their instincts since they were manipulated (and lied to) by psy-ops experts and paranoid delusional nutcases that really believed the nonsense they spouted, as well as the gaggle of opportunists who were making money even back then with the MIC. Dulles was on the ground floor of bringing Nazi Evil to this country - certain political family dynasties, passing on their fearful paranoid delusions from generation to generation, have made our world a living hell. No single person, no matter how courageous, determined, and idealistic, can stand up to these entrenched psychopaths. Not JFK, not Ike, not Carter - and certainly no contemporary leader hoping for that better world we were all promised at the end of WWII. In fact, it was during Hitler’s reign of terror that current US foreign policy cemented the awful abominations with which we now live.
Ignorance of history is going to kill us. The ‘immorality of war’ was NOT a Nazi invention - it was created by people like FDR, Churchill, and the gang of paranoid delusional and greedy thugs around them. The current lot is hardly more sociopathic than the originals - but a fading memory seems to dim (or damn) reason, logic, and common sense.
That’s the problem with history ‘written by the victors’ - it isn’t true or accurate, and we learn nothing from it. People like Allen Dulles (and the rest that clan), William Donavan, Symington, Clay, and their contemporary Chalibi - Reinhard Gehlen - should have been a red flag - but secrecy (to protect the guilty, as usual) kept the truth from most Americans, at least those that actually cared about our future - and damned us to the Cold War. Thus the lessons of WWII that could guide us today - if only people knew the truth… or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof… are lost, dismissed, or ignored - and the corporate thugs who profit from the needless misery, destruction, suffering, and death of ‘total war’ march us all to doom with the same smug ‘patriotic’ nonsense of ‘GWOT’ that doomed so many millions in WWII.
I’m with Einstein on this one - “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the the universe.” and “Three great powers rule the world: stupidity, fear, and greed.” - with the final clincher: “Nationalism is an infantile disease… Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance, how violently I hate all this, how despicable an ignorable war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.”
excellent column
Proud that our local Boston Globe prints James Carroll.
James Carroll’s point is well-taken: why continue funding for our US occupation of Iraq?
Over five years into this fiasco, what are we gaining?
The president of Iran received a red-carpet hero’s welcome in his two-day visit to Iraq in March. Our bigshots Bush, Cheney, and Rice hurry in unannounced and hide out for a few hours in the Green Zone before hurrying out.
China and Iran are starting their huge infrastructure investments in Iraq, in Baghdad and Basra. The NY Times reported this in October; otherwise it received little or no exposure in MSM. Like commondreams, informationclearinghouse provides timely material that you don’t find in MSM.
Across the country, teacher layoffs and higher gas prices are just the beginning of the hurt as ignorance and war win the day, my friends.
Who is to say that the State Department, under the spineless Colin Powell and the spineless and clueless Condoleezza Rice would have done any better? We could have sent in FEMA, I suppose. It would have been better to put the occupation under truly international, preferably from Muslim-majority nations, auspices. Even now that could and should be done.
Thanks for the post, AlexLawyer. Putting the occupation under Muslim-majority nations is what Dennis Kucinich has advocated. It makes too much sense for the Bush Team.
For lack of a better word, It seems a bit strange that under Saddam Hussein’s leadership, the Iraqi people didn’t have to worry about security (except those who was a threat to the gov’t). But now they are living in fear, and are destitute.
They had homes which have been destroyed now by US bombs, electricity 24/7, clean drinking water, operating sewer systems, cooking oil, haeting oil, food, and low cost gasoline.
But now, for the last 5 years there has been a continuing effort of death and destruction in Iraq by the USA. Murdering innocent people was considered a bad thing when Saddam was accused of “Mass Graves,” But when Bush does it, it’s a noble cause.
Although I am surprised Carroll chose to describe the initial problem as “Washington perceived a weapons of mass destruction threat from Saddam Hussein”, I think the other two examples work, especially the third.
The State Department actually had spent a year coming up with the “Future of Iraq” project (Google). It was 13 volumes on how to rebuild every aspect of Iraq, developed by a large teams of experts including over 200 Iraqis from almost every ethnic and political group.
It went to Rumsfeld with list of 75 Arabic speaking specialists willing to go to Iraq when the military operations were done. He immediately rejected it and ultimately threatened to discharge or fire anyone who suggested a Phase 4-C plan again.
Jay Gardner was not informed of the plan. He did run into one of the participants who was not apparently aware of the full scope and final version of it. No matter, when Rumsfeld found out Gardner wanted the guy for the Iraq rebuilding, he was denied.
Instead the whole rebuilding project was handled much like a bunch of very naive highschool students were in charge.
Carroll’s “House of War” is a superb expose of the Pentagon, from inception to the present. All the power and behind the headlines maneuvering that explain why we have reached this miserable point in our history.
I personally suspect that Kennedy’s announcement at a commencement address in 6/03 that he was going to pursue peace (end the war) may have contributed to the assassination. Not to mention having removed General Lyman Lemnitzer as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff earlier in the year. Google “Operation Northwoods”
Meanwhile, the idea that we can do anything to improve our credibility or trust in the world community by staying in country is simply ludicrous.
RichM as usual, your post should be the article and Carroll’s article should the post. But remember, the criminal enterprise now in the White House needs “antiwar” voices exactly like Carroll’s, voices saying the war was wrong because it was fought incompetently. What we should really see on the MSM (and never will) is that Bush and Cheney must both be imprisoned and then face the Hague.
The really infuriating part is that Obama and Clinton have both voted to fund the occupation (Clinton also voted to authorize it, Obama would’ve too), yet the average idiot on Democratic Underground thinks that by voting for either things will change. The same way they changed when they voted for Democrats in 2006.
What will make these cretins wake up? Soon I’ll be at a loss for curse words.
RichM - Well sir, you’ve nailed it perfectly. Another bogus bit of BS is to call the event a “war”. And those who resist the invaders “insurgents”. It’s an occupation and those who are killing our young guys are members, though rag-tag, are the Iraqi Resistance, or rebels. They can’t be “insurgents” because there’s no government in Iraq (remember they are an occupied country). Of course using correct terms wouldn’t play well in the corporate-owned media so we’ve got to stay with the program and use the terms designed to mitigate our illegal actions.
I agree with the others. RichM has nailed it at the core. I’ve admired James Carroll’s articles over the years but this was almost apologetic and very weak.
Siouxrose: You said it very well, especially the last sentence. “Truth never goes out of style, no matter how the proponents of limited thought berate it.”
America may be in for a rude awakening as each day brings us one step closer to the military police state and thought control by corporate media and religious fanatics. Mars is dancing across the nation, and the music ain’t nice!
If we are looking for stability in Iraq—I suggest we look no further than Muktada Al Sadar—he has the power needed to control the masses. He could be the best hope for bringing order to that nation.
It was said that Bush never had an exit strategy because he never wanted to leave. The middle east has over 1/2 of the world’s oil reserves. There is NO way that an oil guy is going to let that be controlled by people that they can not control….period.
Shocked by Carroll’s article, posters above me have named most of the reasons but the
apologetics for Bush & crews’ illegal, immoral, initial act of aggression followed by the brutal, savage, provocative occupation can not be rationalized away.
There are not enough pretty words in this world to cover up this crime which will live in infamy, much like Hiroshima and Wounded Knee.
Me too…. Rich M…..bull’s eye
They were in a hurry. They had an agenda and reconstruction would have slowed them down. The resistance derailed their plan. Without resistance the US would have attacked Syria and Iran , completing the job of totally dominating the region together with Israel. It isn’t simply the oil, it is world domination. this includes encircling China and Russia. It is like a game of Risk. There are no reconstructions in Risk.
I agree that this James Carroll article could have been more ontarget, but this author is actually a lifelone antiwar activist in his way. As mentioned earlier he is the author of a remarkable book, HOUSE OF WAR that brilliantly explains the history of the Pentagon interweaving his own boyhood in the building as the young son of a powerful Air Force General who worked there. The book highlights Carroll’s personal epiphany about war and peace as reflected in his changing relationship to his father. I consider HOUSE OF WAR a must read for fellow CD readers so that they can get a fuller picture of who Mr. Carroll really is.