Jesus George and His Hostile Apostles (part II)

Freedom and/or Security

KXS Jun2k4

Given the leadership of a competent Administration, booting Saddam was a good idea, even if we used to party with him. The Butcher of Baghdad was the biggest asshole in a neighborhood full of them.  Anyone who says that Saddam should have been left alone to pass his Desert Nazism down to his sons is an utter fool on too many points to enumerate here, and thus can not be taken seriously. Last April, when the statues fell in Baghdad, we stood on the cusp of an opportunity to change the way entire cultures thought of us, and make amends for generations of poor policy and diplomacy through cynicism...like supporting Saddam during the 80s. Hawkish politicos swore up and down from the beginning that the results of our idealistic actions would outweigh by megatons every negative vibe that the war, and its misrepresentations, could or would generate.   It was odd, then, that as we took Baghdad and lit the cigar, everything worth a nickel up not at the Oil Ministry was snatched from its surface or mooring.   We responded by disbanding the Iraqi army— sending a half-million young men off to a non-existent unemployment line. It was an omen.  

Our occupation henceforth has been a misguided cluster wrapped in hubris and apparently built atop a foundation of fantasies lifted from Dr. Strangelove. Whoever signed off on the occupation plan needs to be banished to a lifetime of naked latrine duty in an Iraqi prison, with electrodes attached to the genitalia of course. Thirteen-plus months into this war of choice, Iraq has few jobs and almost no security. Folks lose interest in freedom if they’re hungry and being shot at.   Abstract concepts like drafting a constitution mean little when fanatical twits like Muqtada al- Sadr and his horde of thuggish retards are pinning civilians in crossfire action with the freakin US Marines.   This is symptomatic stuff.   We treat Iraq so bad.           

For starters, we should have taken Saddam out in 91, when we had a half-million troops in the neighborhood.   As we all know, Poppa Bush held back while encouraging the Shias to revolt.  The Shais obligied and started to take over Southern Iraq.  Saddam was kind enough to ask permission to stop the revolt, and we said ‘no problem bro, handle your business.’   Saddam gave his magic hand-signal for Republican Guard troops and attack helicopters to fertilize the desert soil with the blood of some fifty thousand Shia insurgents, along with friends and families of the insurgents, per the Saddam style.  Finally, after a few weeks of slaughter, Poppa Bush ordered up the whole no-fly-zone business along with crushing economic sanctions, which managed to simultaneously drain tens of billions of dollars from our coffers while sending Iraq straight to complete economic ruin.   We watched, for 10 years, while Saddam hustled the UN Food for Oil program, which probably wasn't too hard given the nature of diplomats.   Saddam used the cash to build dozens of stadium-sized palaces with Poppa Bush’s mug on welcome mats as many starved across his tortured land.   All this left the Shias a tad bitter.    

Yet war gamers said we’d be welcomed with open arms everywhere, because, after all, we are the main players for freedom.   We've covered why the Shias might be reticent to embrace us.   The Sunni's, who compose twenty percent of the population yet had ninety percent of the power, did okay under Saddam.   So, why would they welcome us, knowing that their collective influence would be diluted mightily in a one-man / one-vote scheme? Granted, the Kurds seem fond of us and they already have a functioning pluralistic government and a bright future.   But that's like someone trying to take over North America with cheers and support from the Canadians.   It's nice, but it won't make the nut.   Given these realities, and given that three-forth's of our military establishment knew this, why did we let this happen?

Who on earth has such a shoddy memory and/or detachment from the facts?  

Does he have his finger on the button?   Well, yes.

President Bush has little interest in history, so maybe that means his conscience will not be burdened by the evolving truth that history shall judge him as a well-meaning trust-fund kid who:

a.) Does not think things through

and

b.) Can not apply serious thought to multiple sides of an issue

Bush is a delegation man, not a details man, and this shows like a cross-shaped wart on the face of a gila monster.

Damn these petroleum politicos for thinking that they could pacify and reprogram a divided Islamic nation alone, fast, and on the cheap.   Iraqis were under the boot of a sadistic maniac for thirty years.   A peaceful and pluralistic mindset does not sprout immediately and magically from such poisonous ground.   Thirty years of totalitarian control will mess up your mind worse than a bag of angel dust and brick to the forehead. Ask any Russian.

Every liberal hawk who complained that it was imperative to secure wider international support for this was right, then and now.   Bush Inc. had access to the arguments needed to sway much of the world to our way of thinking.   Had they presented those arguments honestly to the UN (less of the WMD bullshit, more of democracy and prosperity as long-term solution to terrorism), instead of treating the general assembly like a pack of irritating vagrants seeking a handout, the abyss might not be lurking so damn close.   Legitimacy, as we know now, is vital.   To paraphrase practically every worthwhile and serious geopolitical voice:   Winning the war was bound to be easy, winning the peace is bound to be difficult.   Again, the Iraqi people deserved better from us.

Administration officials collectively decided that since they were working to an idealistic good, others throughout Europe and the Muslim world would clamor aboard the coalition, eventually.   Suckers.   People are petty and stubborn when they’re determined to prove a point; and let’s not dither, most Europeans and Middle East autocrats are content to smugly watch the Iraqi adventure turn into a poisonous caldron that might keep the whole region dark for yet another generation, just to validate their status quo world-view.   That mentality is asinine beyond words, of course, because the United States will not pay the highest price if Iraq fails:   Iraq will have that honor, then the larger Middle East .   Europe can expect some aftershocks too.   We’ll simply throw up our protectionist walls and missile shields and blast to pieces anyone or any nation that gives us a weird look.   Things will go downhill in a hurry, and it won’t be entirely our fault.

Imagine the faces of American Generals and GI’s upon seeing or hearing mass reports of Iraqi police turning tail when Najaf and Fallujah got hot.   Many IP's switched sides, and few actually fought the insurgents.   Imagine that happening here in 1776.   Iraqi warriors are now coming out of the woodwork and taking it to the nihilist jerkoffs in central and southern Iraq, and it is in part because they are being led by Baathist generals (with our blessings). It's a bit like hiring Field Marshall Keitel to put down strife in Hamburg in 1946. That'll get the troops' attention...a little whiff of the 'old guard.'

It is going to take more people, more weapons, and more conviction to move this mess into positive territory, and maybe we're just not up for it. Tossing off the yoke of oppression and ignorance is much tougher than grounding garish statues. It takes bravery and sacrifice, and not enough Iraqis are there yet.   Not that we're in a great position to judge.     

Few Americans can think clearly about the relationship between security and freedom. No one among us actually remembers 1776, or 1861 for that matter.   For most, security is preferable to freedom.   That’s why so many people spend thirty years working jobs they hate.   Americans proclaim otherwise, vehemently, but we kid ourselves.   Suppose a major terrorist outrage strikes the US this October, and elections are called off.   Let’s say Bush declares martial law for the next ten years.   Will we respond with revolution?   Think how cozy that remote feels in your hand, how nice it is to have a warm pizza but a phone call away.   Think about it, we wish the Bush Administration had.