View 282 November 3 - 9, 2003 (original) (raw)
Friday, November 7, 2003
Iraq and National Greatness
Several of us were wondering last night how we got into this mess.
First we had 911, and then Afghanistan which was a very appropriate response. We pretty well eliminated al Qaeda, chased bin Laden into the hills, and demonstrated that any regime that harbored our enemies was going to get a visit from the Special Forces and a rapid regime change. It was successful and appropriate.
So how did we get into Iraq where Saddam was not a nice guy, but sure wasn't any threat to the US? He had been deterred. There is still no convincing evidence that Iraqi agents aided or abetted the 911 plotters, or were involved in the Cole incident, or otherwise were involved in direct attacks on the US.
As near as I can tell, somewhere after 911, the "National Greatness" neo-conservatives, particularly the Weekly Standard crowd, managed to convince the President and his advisors that they were the true conservatives, and spoke to the best interests of the conservative wing of the Republican Party. How they did that is not known to me, but I guess I see some traces.
To begin with, they were persuasive for a while. A lot of people of conservative instincts read the Weekly Standard, liked what they saw, and had no time for deep thought on the subject. They had livings to make and children to raise. And I was myself an enthusiast for a while. Parts of the magazine are still very well done.
There were some odd warning signs. Aesthetics reviews by Thomas Disch, who I last encountered writing condemnations of my work for The Nation, including a 4 page review of Janissaries that showed in the review that he had not read past page 30 of the book: yet he wrote this very large review condemning what is, after all, mostly an action adventure story. For The Nation. Naturally neither Disch nor The Nation replied to my letters pointing out that the reviewer could not possibly have read the book he was condemning. Now Disch appears regularly in The Weekly Standard, his long service to The Nation and its readership apparently forgotten.
And Weekly Standard argues for National Greatness, which they conceive in ways that would be familiar to the Emperor Augustus. To Protect the Weak and Make Humble the Strong. Freedom Follows The Flag, These Colors Don't Run, and up the empire!
By the time the more traditional 'republican' conservatives (meaning those of us who opt for a republic, not an empire, and who think National Greatness is more to be achieved by expeditions to the Moon and Mars, and ending energy dependence, and providing good decent middle class life for our citizens rather than trying to export jobs to all the world and level the entire global playing field) realized what was happening it was a bit late.
And there was some razzle dazzle. Saddam was represented as having all these weapons just poised to be used in the Middle East. Conjure up pictures of nerve gas attacks on Tel Aviv. Did the anthrax attacks that accompanied 911 originate with weaponized anthrax from Iraq? There were lots of hints, and more than hints, that this was so.
And the invasion was on. One problem was that some of those opposed to the war really thought it would go badly, that we would leave a lot of troopers dead. I didn't. I had thought Gulf War I under Bush I would go worse than it did (I figured about 1,000 casualties) but by Gulf War II it was pretty clear that it would be a cakewalk at first. And that was euphoric, and the neo-conservatives really came into their own, and National Review had Frum read out of the conservative movement all those who didn't enthusiastically support the war.
And then came the neo-conservative articles about "big government conservatism". I translate that as empire, and it scares the liver out of me. But that seems to be where they are now.
So: the question is, what do we do now? We're in Iraq. To just "declare victory and leave" -- i.e. cut and run -- would leave the area in a mess and us worse off than before we went in. (Not to mention the Iraqis, who would be in a state of anarchy and civil war.) We can't justify the invasion of Iraq on the grounds of eliminating a threat to us because Saddam was desperately trying NOT to be a threat to us while maintaining his blustery importance in his region. We can't justify it on the grounds of an orderly regime change because that is not the way we went in there, and was not the basis of our negotiations with their army and leadership.
("Soldiers of Iraq: we have determined Saddam Hussein and his sons, and the following others, to be reasonably suspected of war crimes; they will be apprehended and tried. Prepare for an orderly transition of government in the absence of these named individuals. Turn them over to us and our invasion will cease. Otherwise we will come and take them.)
We did not do that. We went in to conquer the country.
We went in for the wrong reasons. Now that we are there, what reasons do we have for staying? What do we want to accomplish?
None of this is increasing our National Greatness, and I certainly can think of things to do with $87 billion that would be more useful to mankind, our descendents, and our National Greatness than simply occupying Iraq.
That's my analysis, anyway.
So what do we do now? (And see mail.)
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Another Black Hawk down, 6 more troopers dead today, making 32 for the week. And according to NBC News, the Army is now bombarding the area where the attacks came from. That will certainly make the soldiers feel better. The effect on the Iraqis isn't as clear cut.
Also on NBC News, anarcho-tyranny is in force in Goose Creek, South Carolina, where the police raided a high school, guns drawn, forcing students to the floor with threats of deadly force. This certainly poses no danger to the police, and it will certainly send a message to the students and population.
No drugs or weapons were found. I don't think the cops there tried to justify these warrantless searches, handcuffs, and intimidations with deadly force by appealing to the Patriot Act, but one supposes it will not be long before that occurs to someone.
It's certainly a lot easier to intimidate students in a "zero tolerance" situation than it is to do real police work and actually catch someone selling drugs. Whether that is what the people want isn't so clear, but then the people aren't often consulted. We may look for a lot more of this.
And there was anotheranthrax scare today. Where were Hatfill and Butler?
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AND
Hhhmm... This looks awfully familiar. Prelude to a DC/X clone?
http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/snews/2003/1107.shtml
E.C. "Stan" Field
Familiar indeed!