Subscribe to Common Dreams News Updates
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
Two Wars Don’t Make a Right
The carnage is not yet complete, and President Barack Obama's attempt to put the best face on the ignominious U.S. occupation of Iraq will not hide what he and the rest of the world well know. The lies that empowered George W. Bush to invade Iraq represent an enduring stain on the reputation of American democracy. Our much-vaunted system of checks and balances failed to temper the mendacity of the president who acted like a king and got away with it.
It is utter nonsense for Obama, who in the past has made clear his belief that the Bush administration's case for this war was a tissue of lies, to now state: "The United States has paid a huge price to put the future of Iraq in the hands of its people." We paid a huge price simply to assuage the arrogance of a president that was unfettered by the restraints of common sense expected in a functioning democracy. Particularly shameful was the betrayal by the Congress and the mass media of the obligations to challenge a president who exploited post-9/11 fears to go to war with a nation that had nothing whatsoever to do with that attack.
With hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Americans dead and maimed and at a cost of $3 trillion to American taxpayers, the U.S. imperial adventure in Iraq has left that country in a horrible mess, controlled by a corrupt and deeply divided elite that shows no serious inclination to effectively govern. Nor can there be a claim of enhanced U.S. security when the real victors are the ayatollahs of Iran, whose influence in once bitterly hostile Iraq is now immense. The price in shattered lives and dollars will continue, as Iraq remains haunted by ethnic and religious conflict that we did so much to provoke.
Remember when most of the once respected mass media, and not just the obvious lunatics on cable, bought the Bush propaganda that democracy in Iraq, a harbinger of a new Middle East, was just around the corner? They based that absurd expectation on the fact that an Iraqi ayatollah disciple of the ones ruining Iran could order millions of his followers to hold up purple fingers. What a joke we have made of the ideal of representative democracy when Iraq is operating under an incomprehensible constitution, which our proconsul ordered, and is still without a functioning government six months after an election that our media once again dutifully celebrated.
Mark the obit on this disaster by John Simpson, the highly regarded BBC world affairs editor, writing Tuesday from Baghdad that "nowadays it is hard to find anyone who sees America as a friend or mentor." Dismissing the original American expectation that the overthrow of Saddam Hussein would expand democracy in the Middle East, Simpson concludes: "On the contrary, America's position in the Middle East has been visibly eroded. ... America seems to have shrunk as a direct result of its imperial adventure in Iraq."
The one positive outcome is that with the formal end of the U.S. occupation many Americans have finally learned the lesson that imperialism does not pay. While Bush fiddled with a nonexistent terrorist threat from Iraq, the U.S. economy burned and the oil loot that some thought would make it all worthwhile never materialized. Remember when the neoconservatives were riding high and Paul Wolfowitz assured a supine Congress that Iraqi oil would pay for it all?
Nor did the invasion even make more secure our access to Mideast oil while competitors like China were busily securing foreign energy rights to shore up their bustling economies. Obama acknowledged this reality in his speech when he stated, "We must jump-start industries that create jobs, and end our dependence on foreign oil."
For all his talk about turning our attention homeward, Obama reveals his obsession with the imperial adventure in Afghanistan, where "because of our drawdown in Iraq, we are now able to go on offense." Once again there is the expectation that the occupied will embrace the occupiers and that the deployment of massive military power "will disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida," as if that is any longer relevant to our deep involvement in a treacherous civil war in which we have no reliable partners.
Al-Qaida was never present in Iraq before we invaded, and according to Obama's own national security adviser, there are fewer than a hundred members of the group left in Afghanistan, unable to coordinate any actions. Obama deserves credit for extracting this country from a war in Iraq that he inherited, but it is mind-numbing that in his nation-building efforts in Afghanistan he is now repeating the same errors that were made in Iraq.
- Posted in
26 Comments so far
Show AllPoor Robert Scheer.
I wish this man would wake up.
Obama is all claptrap. To believe ANYTHING the man says is enable what you complain about.
He is Bush.
Also, it is a ridiculous notion that people in the U.S. have learned a lesson from Iraq.
I agree. Everything out of Obama's mouth is bull.
We said the same thing after the carnage of Viet Nam and Cambodia, that our misadventure had taught us a lesson, but not for long, There was actually some trepidation when we went into the middle east for the first Gulf war but the easy victory quickly restored war's good reputation. Madeline Albright wanted a bigger intervention in Kosovo. "What's the use of having an army if you don't use it?" she opined. And with the black eye we suffered in 9-11 the stage was set for retaliation. Afghanistan looked like a cake walk--who could stand up to our withering firepower and it didn't take much to start the war in Iraq. I remember well how popular it was among the 40+ crowd in the men's locker room at Bally's. "If it's not Saddam who started this damn thing--it's close enough." America wanted war and got it. A year into it with 700 dead I called a talk show to ask if we had enough of this war. Not by a long shot the host replied, "We're winning." and George Bush won the election with Kerry afraid to say that the war was a mistake. Anyone who thought otherwise was unpatriotic. Not much has changed since then. With a million civilian Iraqis dead and 4 million displaced or refugees we still strut around like a drunken teen ager shouting that we won. No blood on our hands. Anyone who says otherwise is itching for a fight. We wont be through with war in this country till we regret it and we are a long way from doing that. We haven't had enough war yet, let's start one in Iran.
The Afghan people have a saying that I will paraphrase " Whom is the bravest?, the many that fight one or the one that fights the many?" Interpretation; we will be here when the many are forgotten.
Obama is trying to please the right by screwing over his base. Unfortunately there is nothing he can do, short of becoming white and calling himself a Republican, that will win the favor of the other side. Idiot
http://www.ryanhartman.wordpress.com
Unfortunately there is nothing (Obama) can do, short of becoming white and calling himself a Republican . . .
Uhhhhh . . . that's on the horizon and will be audible some time after the first Tuesday in November of this Year of Our Load.
Polls have shown repeatedly that a majority of Americans turned against Iraq and now oppose Afghanistan.
But the elites funded by all the loot for the Military Industrial Complex plus being goons for Corporate multinationals' interests, refuse to give up Empire.
The US, regardless of Beltway/Wall Street delusions, cannot
afford these Wars anymore and our Empire will come to an end
in a few years. Unmentioned by the foreign policy establishment is the loss already of American hegemony over Latin America which is finally charting its own destiny to
a large extent.
An interesting article is on the front page of the Wall St Journal today about currency speculation reaching $4 Trillion, up from $3 Trillion before the financial crisis.
The venture capitalist vultures are already circling over the
carcasses of the dollar and other currencies ready to strike.
The disaster capitalists will eat their own children, parents and even money.
We will have to build our own alternate institutions and
sustainable communities as they crash even further.
"The one positive outcome is that with the formal end of the U.S. occupation many Americans have finally learned the lesson that imperialism does not pay."
Sheer demonstrates just how clueless he is here.
This war has paid plenty to those who instigated the US occupation of Iraq. They have raked in billions in profits and are developing the infrastructure to expand and maintain this pipeline of plunder as we speak.
A majority of US citizenry (perhaps even a good-sized percentage of the post-Vietnam military) has long been aware of the pathology inherent in imperial foreign policy. It's not that we don't 'get it.'
The problem is that US foregn policy does not represent the interests of the people of the US OR Iraq. It represents the interests of empire.
That, Mr. Sheer, is the problem.
Afghanistan is to Obama as Russia is to Napoleon!
Two Scheers don't even add up to one hypocritical idiot. What a creep. Whose side is he on, anyway?
Exactly what points are you making? It is very hard to tell.
He's 'mixing metaphors' by stating certain facts while distorting whole concepts. I could rebut his entire post, but it would be a waste of time.
The elite predatory corporatists did learn and remember lessons from Vietnam, including:
(1) a draft has dangers, a volunteer force (i.e., an economic draft) is better;
(2) reporters should be embedded, and if reporters run free, they should become targets;
(3) the citizens shouldn't be allowed to view the bodies of the soldiers coming home or view much footage of dead civilians or other horrors of the military action;
(4) everything should be made classified if possible, and whistleblowers and others who reveal the truth to the people should be punished severely;
(5) one should put the war costs "off-budget" and do whatever else to hide them and keep them from becoming a hindrance; and
(6) it is best to classify injured soldiers as mentally unstable or insubordinate in order to avoid paying benefits.
There are many more lessons but that is enough for this list. Now in Iraq and Afghanistan many other useful lessons are being learned that will be applied in future conflicts. So please do not say that "nothing was learned" or that "the lessons were forgotten."
KIVALS: Nice list. I'd add:
#7: Hollywood massages the national psyche by featuring lots of films based on heroism against all those dark-skinned guilty-till-proven innocent terrorists.
#8: Millions in attendance at churches where the unquestioned teaching is that a Holy War is underway, and that American soldiers are fighting on "God's side."
It seems that every time one type of prejudice is put to rest, a new one springs up to take its place. It is almost as if it is part of a grand plan by the plutocrats to divide, distract, and misinform the little people for their own purposes.
"Obama deserves credit for extracting this country from a war in Iraq that he inherited . . . "
Scheer's articles always have an escape clause like this. I absolutely don't understand why Scheer has anything good to say about the USA's latest Grand Imperial Gauleiter - Flopco/Obama.
Herr General Flopco has redesigned the Middle Eastern Imperial logo by adding a green laurel wreath to it. So what? What is it with Scheer?
Obama inherited two wars from the Bush administration and he's trying to correct it. Progress is coming in Iraq and hopefully we'll get some answers on Afghanistan. But just to be safe, draft Kucinich for president in case he doesn't.
Kucinich remains loyal to the Democratic party. He voted for Flopco's health insurance scam. He's like the fraternity brother who reads poetry but who will nonetheless jump off a roof into an empty swimming pool if the other brothers do likewise.
He tried single payer before but the Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats blocked it. He'd have a better chance as president. Give him a big chance of his own.
Gosh,I would say something but I am so afraid. When the Reagan counter -revolutionaries had me declared insane, where were my friends? I'll tell you they were all working enjoying life because to get along you just gotta go along. Some rights only belong to the rich. All you poor kids out there, my advice to you is to keep your ideas to yourself. All you rich guys out there, you need to speak for us now because we have been silenced. Remember the hippies were right and where are they now? Buried by lies.
Sir: Just by looking at this site, or ones like it, you have been labeled an enemy of the state and are on countless government lists of people to be rounded up and stored for disappearance at the largest football stadium in your area. You need to destroy your computer and move to a galaxy far far away. Lie low; say nothing; find something else to talk about besides politics. And then, because the government is as incompetent as it is evil, you might get lost in the technical and bureaucratic shuffle and get out alive.
I will be a proud American again when our war criminal leaders, past and present, have been arrested and charged with crimes against humanity.
Unfortunately, the only ones that get tried for war crimes are the losers. Obama had his chance, instead he made the wars his own. So now when they are "lost" they will be Democrat losses, and in future elections, if we continue to have "elections", the Repugnant warmongers will castigate the Dems for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, and the damned craven Dems will move even further to the right to prove their patriotism.
This country is finished. From the "Jobless Recovery" (double dip or second depression?), the destruction of the middle class and concomitant concentration of wealth, the corrupted Congress egged on by an ignorant populist movement, our collapsing infrastructure and degraded environment, etc. We are in a downward spiral from which there is little likely hood of escape. Does anyone read History anymore?