after the fires of war have ended, the world's ruling
on US involvement in Vietnam is totally negative.
There too we were told the war was how we could stop a
greater menace, in that case Communism. In truth, the
Russian empire was headed for collapse with or without
Vietnam, destined to fall under the weight of its own
economic ineptitude.
The wisdom that war is never good came at great cost
in lives, money, and waste""paid most dearly by our
dead and damaged soldiers and the innocent victims of
past wars. It is to avoid these future sacrifices for
which the wisdom learned from past wars must be spent.
Our role is not to rule over anyone. If we fight to
kill a greater menace""the spread of Islamic
fundamentalism""what do we have to show for ourselves
in our sacrifice so far? I can't believe some new
benefit will emerge out of our occupation of Iraq that
makes our continued presence there worthy. If there's
a mission, we've already done that by removing Saddam.
WMD turned out to be non-existent, a lie so sweetly
told on our Presidents lips that even now he will not
admit an error led him into his reasoning (perhaps
because he'd already chosen war.)
There can be no greater failure that that to not learn
from our mistakes. We couldn't have won in Vietnam,
mostly because we underestimated the tenacity of
people who fought us simply because they didn't want
us there. To be a mature leader, one must admit the
prior mistake, and avoid its recurrence. President
Bush has failed by leading our country into the exact
same situation: an open-ended ground war, in Asia,
against national resistance.
miserably as terror dominates Iraq. In keeping with
our ongoing desecration of the Geneva Conventions, we
ignore our obligation under that treaty to restore
order after invasion, to its pre-war level. Surprise!
War is not meant to be conducted in certain ways. By
acknowledging that our management of post-War Iraq was
a mistake, and that we haven't re-established order in
Iraq, we could at least give a reason for staying""for
a while at least. But nothing is said as to the goals,
which are buried somewhere far from where the fighting
rages, hidden behind a veiled timeline explained to
last until "until the mission is accomplished."
Embracing war in perpetuity must be avoided; for peace
to begin, war must end.
No link of cause and effect is drawn from our actions
and their consequences. Like some schoolyard bully we
continue to do the same things as a nation that caused
us trouble in the past, and we end up despised, even
if we are feared. What achievement could possibly be
derived from our continued presence in Iraq if at this
point our ongoing presence is only contributing to the
ongoing conflict?
Like all wars, there is no winning. There's only
conflict until one side loses the will or ability to
fight. This process could go on and on, with the only
outcome greater and greater acts of violence and
destruction, which all wars cultivate. There's no
greater good that gets realized by war, nothing of
intrinsic value. If there are terrorists in Iraq that
pose a threat to us, we need to wipe them out. We
don't need to be occupying Iraq to do that, and
especially not if we're broadening support for the
enemy by being there.
Walk out and let the Iraqis earn their own freedom.
Whatever shall come if, at least Iraqis will determine
their own destiny. We've done enough.
-John Peebles
Bio: The author writes on political and international
issues. An avid environmentalist, he lives in a
small Midwestern town.
E-mail lordfraser@yahoo.com
Other Works: Covering Media Conference:
http://www.ucimc.org/newswire/display/35036/index.php
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
