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CounterPunch
October
2, 2002
A Vietnam
Veteran on Iraq
The Case Agaisnt War
by
PETER P. MAHONEY
America is going to war. The decision has already
been made, by a handful of arrogant elitists who will not be
deterred.
The UN? Bush has already said that the
US will proceed with or without a UN resolution. Bush has been
repeating his mantra "act or become irrelevant." Bush
has already made the UN irrelevant.
The US Congress? They are falling all
over each other in their rush to establish patriotic credentials
before the elections. Hey, what's a few body bags when re-election
is at stake?
This war will be waged without compelling
motive, at incalculable cost, and will seriously undermine rather
than enhance US security. Does anybody care?
1. Justification: One would expect that
invading a sovereign country to overthrow its government should
require clear and compelling evidence of a threat to national
security. We have been inundated with innuendo, rehashed allegations,
and, at times, downright falsehoods, yet no evidence that Iraq
poses a serious and immediate threat to the United States has
surfaced. If such evidence exists - as in the Cuba missile crisis
in the early sixties - surely the Bush administration would not
be shy about sharing it with the world. In fact, Bush tried to
change the justification for war from the fact that Iraq "may"
possess weapons of mass destruction to that fact that Iraq has
flouted UN resolutions. If this were true justification for war,
then why does the US continue to support Israel, which does possess
weapons of mass destruction and has been flouting UN resolutions
for thirty-five years? Is "may" a compelling reason
for war?
2. Security: The administration has tried
to convince us that the war on Iraq is part of the war on terrorism,
and that removing Saddam Hussein from power will make us safer.
I beg to differ. Al Qaida has attacked us; Iraq has not. The
focus on Iraq has distracted our attention from Al Qaida, a true
threat. Perhaps this is part of the Bush strategy, since his
foray into Afghanistan has utterly failed to achieve his original
goal -- to eliminate the leadership of Al Qaida. When was the
last time you heard Osama mentioned by the administration?
All indications are that war with Iraq
will actually decrease our security. The Arab states in the region
- particularly our totalitarian allies - are petrified of the
destabilizing effects that war with Iraq will have on their countries.
Anyone familiar with the tactics of terror understands that the
goal of the terrorist is to "heighten the contradictions"
- to provoke an indiscriminate overreaction that radicalizes
moderates and drives them towards the terrorist's camp. The invasion
of Iraq will not reduce terrorism, it will increase it. Osama
and his cronies have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
3. International Relations: In the post-World
War II era, the United States has been a leader in constructing
an interlocking system of institutions and treaties to safeguard
the world from the type of might-makes-right policies of Hitler
and his allies. Now that system is being swept away by a handful
of US politicians who seem to find "the law" - both
international and domestic - to be a mere nuisance in the pursuit
of their policies. The most fundamental principle of our nation
has always been that "the law" applies equally to all,
rich and poor, strong and weak. Our government has told the world:
"the law" applies to others but not to us. Is this
who we really are as a nation?
We are currently the mightiest nation
on earth; it will not always be so. World history is littered
with the carcasses of "great powers" whose demise was
swift and sure when their arrogance for power exceeded their
ability to exercise it. What will be in store for us when the
next great power decides to emulate the US, and exercises might-makes-right
policies against us?
4. Cost: Remember when we were debating
how to spend the surplus? In the blink of an eye, it's gone.
Where will the money come from to fund this grand adventure?
From education, from social security, from healthcare, from domestic
infrastructure, from environment. Is this really a price we're
willing to pay?
We are already in an economic downturn.
War in the Middle East always causes a significant increase in
the price of oil. As war hysteria increases, the stock market
goes down further. Some are trying to convince us that war is
good for business; the evidence suggests otherwise.
Most important is the human cost. Have
you noticed that the loudest voices trying to convince us that
this war will be quick and neat are those who never served in
the military? I don't claim that my service as an infantry lieutenant
in Vietnam gives me any special insight into war, but I did learn
two things. The first is that no war ever goes according to plan.
The most likely scenario is that Iraq's troops will retreat into
the cities. The resulting loss of life - both among US troops
and innocent Iraqi civilians -- from this urban warfare will
be horrific.
The second thing I learned from Vietnam
is that soldiers are required to do their jobs when politicians
fail to do theirs. We always reward our politicians for starting
wars; it is what makes it so appealing to them. Start a war,
and people forget about the failure of our intelligence agencies,
the failure in Afghanistan, the failure of our economy, the infringement
of our civil liberties, the totalitarian arrogance of our president,
the corporate greed scandals and the administration's role in
them. Isn't it time we punished our politicians for starting
wars?
No, it will not be so. America is going
to war. And it will be our children who will reap the grim fruits
of our folly.
Peter P. Mahoney
is a Vietnam veteran who lives in Warren, Vermont. He can be
reached at: pmahoney@iscvt.org
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October 2,
2002
Uri Avnery
Manufacturing
Anti-Semites
October 1,
2002
Benjamin Shepard
On the
Road Again:
IMF/World Bank Protest
Reveal a Revived
Movement for Global Justice
Dr. Susan
Block
Cockfight
at the
Baghdad Corral
Krystal Kyer
Growing Union Opposition
to War
Ron Jacobs
Born Without a Spine
Scott Loughrey
Mysteries
of 9/11
Jeremy Brecher
Collective
Security is Working
Brenda Norrell
Troy
Black Feather on
the American Flag
Sam Bahour
Wake Up
and Smell
the Occupation
Richard Harth
Contrary
to Reason:
Adieu, Hitchens, Adieu
Carol Norris
Rumsfeld
the Surrealist:
Things Related and Not
Ben Tripp
Lists Upon
Lists
September
30, 2002
Rep. Barbara
Lee
Alternatives
to War
Kurt Nimmo
Iraq: The
Vision
of the Velociraptors
Zeynep Toufe
"We
Own the World, We Ignore the Children"
Dave Marsh
The Troubador's
Highway
Tariq Ali
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Neve Gordon
Bush's
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James T. Philips
Riding to Maine
Anis Shivani
Life of a Bum
David Vest
Too True North
Jacob Levich
Case of the Missing Terrorist
William MacDougall
British Immigration Tests
Edward Hammond
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