I remember well the start of the first gulf war. I watched as an oil drilling dispute between Iraq and Kuwait turned into an American war. As a conservative and registered Republican I did experience some doubt regarding what Bush senior and his cabinet were driving us into – War in the Middle East. But I was passionately sold with the language of nationalism and righteousness. It was a virtuous war to “Protect American interests” and to “be the champion of democracy and freedom”. I smelled the disturbing odor of oil motive, but waived the flag and excitedly watched our exploits on the nightly news. I remember the day we started the bombing. I was in the halls at work and a colleague walked by and said with a smile quipped “we are rocking and rolling”. It felt good to be an American. Yes it did.
In May 1996 Madeleine Albright was on 60 Minutes. She was asked if the war was worth the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children. She said that although it was difficult – that yes, it was worth it. Something deep in my soul shuddered. The old doubts came again, but now stronger. A deeply disturbing new thought came into my mind – Maybe we were no longer the good guys, possibly quite the opposite.
Years later – another Bush and another war. You know the story. You know the pitch. WMD’s. Evil dictator. American interests. Leader of freedom in the world. At this point I watched more carefully. UN inspectors roamed around Iraq and couldn’t find WMD’s. No matter – in we go. No need for a congressional declaration of war. That is old school. Follow the commander in chief into a new Middle East war. Remember 9/11! U.S – good! Iraq – bad! Saddam must go! At war in the middle east once again. At that point my mind had completely changed. This was evil. My party – the Republican party – the party of Russell Kirk, and Eisenhower, and Reagan had become the party of war mongers.
Now many on both sides of congress renounce the Iraq wars. A report from the House of Commons was also released this month on the 2nd Iraq war and Britain’s involvement (see link below along with the Chinese response to the report). Go to watchingamerica.com to read more foreign press that has been translated into english.
But sadly, the sprit of nationalism through regime change aggression is alive and well within Washington. The horrors of Paris, San Bernardino, Orlando, and now Nice and Turkey are fuel for the stove of demagogues. “We must go in and annihilate ISIS.” “Let the “Sand Glow.” “This is a Global War.”
David Stockman just wrote a long blog / essay that gives an eye-opening history of American involvement in there middle east since the 50’s. Some salient quotes:
The inconvenient truth is, Washington and its NATO vassals have brought bombs, drones, occupations and slaughter to towns and villages throughout the greater middle east for upwards of three decades. It is that senseless intervention and aggression that has fueled the rise of vengeful barbarians who operate under the ideological cover of a twisted Sunni jihaddism.
In fact, it was the Bush/Clinton/Obama wars which gave rise first to al-Qaeda and then to ISIS. In very substantial degree Washington trained them, armed them and then incited them to their anti-western rampages.
So it needs to be shouted from the rafters at the outset that all the arm-waving and screeching against this deal by the GOP war-mongers and the Israeli lobby is grounded in a Big Lie. The whole Iran-is-after-the-bomb narrative is just WMD 2.0.
So if the Donald wants to really stop the blowback, eliminate the copycats and lone wolves and reduce the unjustified but palpable fears of terrorism among American voters, he only needs to do what Eisenhower did in 1952. That is, go to Tehran, make a deal and then bring Washington’s vast, destructive and unaffordable war machine home.
You can read Stockman’s excellent piece in the link below. It is worth your time and reflection.
I was prompted to write this blog after the horror in Nice, France. Once again vicious violence and evil has occurred. Paris, San Bernardino, Orlando, Istanbul, and now Nice. Words cannot express the depth of suffering that these events have produced. Of course, we are all angry and disturbed. It is evil and is condemned by God and by any sane person. But I fear another evil and another terror. It is the evil and terror of another round of horrible American foreign policy. Foreign policy that begins in demagoguery and simplistic thinking. That leads to drums of war. That results in another round of American intervention. More undeclared war. More regime change. More children and innocents killed. More horror in cities around the world. More instability. More hatred. More Islamic terrorists recruited. More, more, more terror.
So my fervent hope and prayer is “Not Again!”
Will
British House of Commons report on the Iraq War – published July 6th, 2016
(click image below to read)
