Rallying the Troops and Avoiding Reality
There is something almost surreal in the juxtaposition of President Bush’s statements on Iraq and news reporting on the war. The two are simply irreconcilable. Bush’s upbeat take collides with recent news reports about events in Iraq as well as with the judgments of senior officials within his administration. If the media have got it wrong, then we deserve to get hammered. If, however, it turns out that Bush is not being straight with courageous U.S. service members and their families, then it will be the Bush presidency and his legacy that will pay dearly.
- Colbert I. King
It truly is difficult to reconcile the rosy, upbeat pronouncments emanating from Our Glorious Leader and the day to day reporting of the war (unless, of course, the only place you get your news from is Fox News Channel).
If you swallow the Kool Aid being provided by George W. Bush, you find the war in Iraq to be a just and noble cause. After all, it’s better to fight terrorists in the streets of Baghdad than in Manhattan, eh? That this flies in the face of reality seems almost beside the point.
Just what exactly IS this “noble cause”? And DON’T tell me it’s about fighting and winning the war against terrorism. There was no terrorist threat in Iraq prior to our invasion. We created our own terrorist threat, so no, I’m not about to buy the argument that it’s all about fighting terrorism. And what is “just” about this “noble cause”. We unilaterally invaded Iraq without the consent of the international community. While I’m certainly not one to advocate holding our foreign policy hostage to the whims and vagaries of the UN, I also believe that, as the world’s last remaining superpower, we have an implied responsibility to play well with others. Our assumption of the role as the world’s self-appointed bully and moral policeman has engendered the anger and resentment that one would expect to result from such arrogance.
At the moment he’s hitting it off in visits to military posts, where he dons his commander-in-chief hat. One Bush line always draws applause: “We will stay on the offensive. Whatever it takes, we will seek and find and destroy the terrorists, so that we do not have to face them in our own country.” It went over well last year with a gathering of applauding Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne, Green Berets of the 5th Special Forces Group and the Night Stalkers, at Fort Campbell, Ky.
In June the president went to Fort Bragg, N.C., and in a televised address described Iraq as the latest battlefield in the war on terrorism, saying: “America’s mission in Iraq is to defeat an enemy and give strength to a friend … . We will stay in the fight until the fight is won.”
And to cheering military families at Nampa, Idaho, this week, Bush said: “Terrorists will emerge from Iraq one of two ways: emboldened or defeated … . for the sake of our children and our grandchildren, the terrorists will be defeated.”
Bush’s portrayal of America as a nation besieged by a cruel enemy that has made Iraq the battleground is one of the reasons America’s military families willingly send sons and daughters off to war. Yes, it’s hard duty, but what goal is worthier than defending America? Stated that way, there’s no argument, at least where I’m concerned. That was one of the reasons that I, along with many in my generation, suited up during the Cold War.
Being a bully and pursuing an aggressive, self-absorbed policy that thoroughly disregards the rights of a sovereign nation is so much easier when you can use 9.11 to justify your every move. 9.11 means never having to apologize for lying your way into a war of attrition that shows no sign of ending and no sign of anything but wasting young American lives.
No, Iraq is not Vietnam, but the parallels are disturbing, and the slogan “Iraq” is Arabic for “Vietnam” is becoming more and more believable. Both wars involved sacrificing large numbers of troops for political ends that no one could adequately define or justify.
Both wars became quagmires quickly. Bush’s Vietnam is becoming a mess that is nothing if not a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” conundrum. Our Glorious Leader’s war in Iraq has NOTHING to do with 9.11. At least the war in Afghanistan can be justified as a hunt for al-Qaeda. Iraq is…well, I’m not at all certain just what the hell Iraq is other than a quagmire. Bush and his minions have changed their mantra from “the war against terror” to “the struggle against violent extremism” in an effort to further propagandize sheep-like Americans. The undeniable reality, though, is that this war cannot under any circumstances be justified as protecting American security.
Ironic isn’t it? If Bush were a Democrat, he probably would have been impeached by now. Instead, Americans are swallowing his propaganda wholesale and he’s regarded as some sort of freakin’ hero.
It would appear that Americans are getting exactly the quality of leadership they deserve. Americans will continue coming home in boxes, and we will continue to march in lockstep behind Our Glorious Leader. God, what a sorry collection of sheep we’ve proven ourselves to be….
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