War without Justification: Saturday Political Sop Box 105

Sorry.  Sorry. Sorry.

Usually don't start with memes from the internet.  But this one engendered such a reaction on The Facebook Machine when I posted it, I felt I needed to make some important points about it.

Some thought I was just being amusing attacking the great and mighty Bush/Cheney.  I guess they still thought the Iraq War was a great and glorious and justified action.

Some thought the war was simply poorly executed and that we should have just gone harder, longer and with greater, I don't know...viciousness.

Some blamed Democrats as well, for this and other foreign policy/military failures.  A pox on both their houses!  As if these people had just appeared by magic and the American Electorate had nothing to do with it.

Let me first clarify where I am coming from.  I am not a pacifist.  I am not an isolationist.  And despite what many may think, I am not a Democrat (I am a Warren/Sanders progressive).

I am an internationalist who believes in the careful and judicious use of force used only when necessary.  I believe in diplomacy first, second and third.  But there are times, when in the interest of humanity (genocides and invasions) or in defense of the best strategic interests of the United States, that some military involvement may be necessary.

When 9/11 happened, as much as I despised Bush II, I thought maybe he would get the job done.  He wasn't a great thinker, but he was often single minded in what he wanted done.  He had just pursed drastic tax cuts to the wealthy, shifting his logic constantly to fit changing economic circumstances, like a dog with a bone that he would not let go of until his buddies who helped got him elected were rewarded.  I thought, well, at least he would use that same focused vigor to get Bin Laden and Al Queda.

I was wrong.

After an intense start, that I did not entirely disagree with, it suddenly shifted for the worst when we had Bin Laden cornered at Tora Bora in December of 2001, and we inexplicably stopped and let him go.  I was stunned.  It was not at all what I expected from Bush II.

Further surprises were in store, as he stated it wasn't all that important to him as to whether we got Bin Laden or not.  Suddenly, the conversation shifted to Iraq and Saddam Hussein, who was far from a saint, but who had nothing to do with 9/11.  He may have had weapons of destruction.  How do we know this?  Because Cheney told us so.  The fact that he was LYING to us was apparently something we were supposed to just overlook.

The cold fact is that the Iraq invasion was chosen to further the interests of OIL and corporations.  There were some neocon thought that Iraq could be turned into a laboratory to prove the value of extreme right wing economic philosophy, imposing corporate control disguised as free market capitalism.  The attempted imposition of this was one of the biggest failures in American history.

9/11 was not the reason we went into the Iraq War.  It was the cover.  It was the excuse used by Cheney and Rumsfeld to do something that they had wanted to do anyways.  The Iraq War did not begin with 9/11.  It began with a secret meeting of Cheney and energy industry insiders, plotting out the course of new oil pipelines.

Our soldiers fought bravely, valiantly.  They deserve all the credit and praise in the world.  The National Guard was used in a way that was never intended ( and Bush II should know that - it's where he hid out to avoid the Vietnam War).  The vets that have come back needed our support, our kindness, and yes, lots of resources and help.  Both parties have failed to live up to taking care of them.

Foreign policy is not a zero sum game.  The globe's inter-connectivity is increasing exponentially, and isolationism is no longer a valid response.  Every action we take has consequences that lead to other things.  Even well-intentioned actions can lead to negative consequences down the road.  But inaction leads to negative results as well.  We have to act, particularly diplomatically.

Our leaders have tough decisions to make.  We can pray that we do the right thing, and that when their actions are reasonable and just, we support them.

Have Democrats done the wrong things sometimes?  Sure.  Yes, it's true.  Both sides have.  But nothing that equals the strategic and immoral blunder of the Iraq War.  That is in a class by itself.   There have been individual atrocities and manipulations before, but I still rank this one the tops.  We will be paying for it for decades to come.

Yes, let's get involved.

But let's do it for humanitarian reasons.  Let's do it to defend this country and our NATIONAL interests.

Let's never do it again to promote CORPORATE interests.  Let's never be LIED into a war again.  Let's never do it to promote some half baked neocon theory about free market capitalism.

And let's put Cheney and his lying cronies where they belong....

...in prison.