This is a difficult subject to broach. People get very emotional about war. A lot of people really, really, really want the country to go to war, to be at war, to stay at war, and to fight the good fight, forever and ever, Amen. They want to exert maximum military might at all times and apply it to every problem, both real and imagined. Others want peace. Peace at almost any cost. Almost nothing, in their minds, justifies the killing of human beings. It’s hard to win with these crowds.
It’s tough to bring these two views together, to find any common ground. When folks like me suggest a middle course, a way of looking at war and its alternatives which moderates both the extremes, we form a bridge between the highly charged positive and negative emotional poles and the sparks begin to fly, usually through us. It’s the power of the people—unregulated, sizzling power that often cooks reasonable viewpoints to a crisp. Still…
Before going any further, before making a single comment critical of our continuing military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, let me make the necessary disclaimers. It’s a shame that such disclaimers should be necessary, but sadly they are. Many Americans, way too many Americans, simply cannot separate criticism of our nation’s foreign policy from criticism of our troops. They lack the skill set to distinguish between support for our troops and support for the bombastic, sensationlistic mouthpieces of Fox News who daily warn us that the country is under relentless attack from foreign enemies and in urgent need of strong military action to protect our freedom.
In their minds, criticism of the military expedition in Afghanistan is criticism of little Johnny B. Citizen from down the street who’s off in Kabul serving in the Army. You’re making light of his service, and you’re unpatriotic. It’s all nonsense, of course, but millions and millions and millions of folks think that way. They can’t help it. So, here’s the disclaimer:
Nothing in this article is intended to disparage the courage, bravery, dedication, commitment, skill, training, sacrifice or patriotism of any American soldier. Nothing is intended to diminish the honor or appreciation due soldiers for their service to the nation. Soldiers do not decide when to go to war. They simply do what they’re told to do when they’re told to do it. They follow orders—orders which originate with a civilian Commander in Chief, and that’s as it should be.
Soldiers have a difficult job, and most perform the duties of that job admirably, a few perform them heroically. All are at risk of losing life or limb, and we owe it to every soldier to be sober in our deliberations regarding war and peace.
The fact, however, is that we are seldom sober. We are, as a people, quite the opposite. We are reactionary and easily manipulated. We fall prey to pomp and circumstance, patriotic lyrics, promotional videos that glorify war, and ghost stories broadcast 24/7 by Fox News and most of talk radio. We are anything but sober.
Now, saying all of that leads me to say this:
If you are an American soldier fighting for my freedom in Afghanistan or Iraq, please stop. There’s been some terrible mistake. What you’re doing is both dangerous and unnecessary. No one in Afghanistan or Iraq is posing any real threat to my freedom.
No Afghanis are foreclosing any homes in my neighborhood, so I have neither any reason nor desire to blow up theirs. My neighbor’s unemployment check is being held up by Republicans in Washington, not Taliban in Kandahar, and it is extremely unlikely that Iraqis will detain me to examine my papers as I drive from Tempe to Scottsdale.
Neither remnants of the Taliban nor Pashtun tribesmen are killing all the fish, foul and fauna and impoverishing residents of the Gulf Coast, and the hand that’s constantly fumbling around in my pockets does not belong to Islamic extremists. It’s attached to the long and greedy arm of American capitalism. My freedom is, without question, under attack, but not by men in oxcarts.
On I-65 just south of Nashville yesterday I saw a sticker in the rear window of a pickup truck that read:
“My son fought in Iraq so that your son could party in college.”
I’ve gotta tell you, if what the sticker said was true, some young man had an awfully flimsy reason for going off to war. Somehow I doubt the claim. If my son went off to war for such an idiotic reason I don’t think I’d be eager to publicize that fact. I’m sure I wouldn’t put a sign about it in the window of my truck. On the other hand, American soldiers continue to fight in Iraq for a far flimsier reason—to line the pockets of war profiteers and giant investment banks who will foreclose their homes and jack their credit card interest rates as soon as they return stateside. It’s a lot like being tricked into fighting for the enemy. In fact, it’s exactly like that.
Of course, I’m not really talking to soldiers here. I’m trying to talk to those of us back here at home who can vote, circulate petitions, and write to elected officials. I know it’s unlikely, but I’m hoping to change some minds. Or, just one mind. Anything that will help bring an end to our occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and return our soldiers to their families.
I’m hoping to bring someone to understand that:
(a) There is no real Muslim conspiracy to take over the United States and kill all the Christians. At least, if there is such a conspiracy, it is a very small one and unlikely to succeed. It’s not the sort of thing that could justify a $1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion dollars) military response.
(b) Nothing and no one in Iraq or Afghanistan pose any credible threat to your freedom or mine. If you feel otherwise, stop and ask yourself a couple of simple questions.
Are you free to publicly declare your political opinions or religious beliefs? Do you feel any pressure coming from Iraq or Afghanistan to silence your remarks?
Have you encountered any Afghanis or Iraqis blocking your path, interfering with your ability to come and go as you please?
Are any of them interfering with your daily business or personal affairs? Are they slapping you with taxes, tariffs or tolls? Beating you up with late fees, penalties and interest? Killing you with special, limited time bundled offers? Demanding tribute of some kind?
Blocking the doors to the Baptist or Catholic church? Burning all the Bibles or oppressing American women? Filling the airways with tele-imams and rubab and dombura music?
No? Then what’s the problem?
(c) Recognizing that anyone can blow up a building and kill a bunch of people (as evidenced by Timothy McVeigh), how might any forces within Iraq or Afghanistan possibly launch a freedom-threatening attack against the United States—an attack that would actually call into question the continuation of American independence, liberty or freedom? They have no planes, tanks, ships, smart bombs, armies, navies, intercontinental ballistic missiles or… Well, you get the point. The whole thing’s silly. It’s more than silly. It’s preposterous.
(d) Which had more of a direct effect upon your life yesterday—British Petroleum or the Taliban? The price of gasoline or Pashtun warlords?
We could go on with this for quite a while. Okay, I’ll stop. For now.
I’ll just end by saying this: Sending young men and women to die doing a job that doesn’t need doing does not constitute “supporting our troops.” On the contrary, it is a betrayal of our responsibility to our troops. It reflects a love of war, not a love of country.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I think I’ll just pull all of my hair out and set fire to my clothes if one more person sends me one of those “patriotic” videos with a hundred pictures of soldiers, airplanes and tanks. It’s as though they think that the level of patriotism can be measured by the number of photos of heavy weapons they can assemble together into one video. This blog article has a good message, but I don’t think anyone is going to hear it above the noise of the patriotic marching band and the fireworks.
Stupidity is incurable. You might as well give up trying to change anybody’s mind on this subject. It’s a lost cause.
While I do not claim to be an educated person and my life’s experience does tend to make me favor the Military as I have served, I just want to remind everyone that FREEDOM ISN’T FREE. Some people must always stand up to others who would deny it to you. You think we have no right to be in the Middle east and on that point I may tend to agree with you but at the same time if we do not fight it there we Will be fighting it here. Most of you beleive that the every day Muslim has nothing against you, well keep beleiving it. I don’t. When the Leaders of all the Muslim nations and the Muslim religion stand up and denounce the terrorist activities of the few then I might. And for everyones education all wars have been fought for 3 things, religion,territory, and subjugation of a people. notice religion is first, yes the Christian nations have also had their share of wars but none since the middle ages excepting the fighting between the protestants and chatholic’s in Ireland. The muslims have always been at war with one and all forevever. that is the way of life for them .
Michael, I “notice religion is first” in your list, but it is only because you put it there. Your comment is sufficient to persuade me that there exists a considerable amount of religious hatred in the world.
Prentis, I tend to agree with you about the religous hate in this world but to me it is coming mostly from the Muslims, ie. We will not rest untill the state of Isarael is no more (Yasser Arrafat) and there have been so many others too, most main stream Christian religons preach tolerence for all including the Muslims but no where on the Muslim side do you hear that. I personally do not hate anyone or any religion as I beleive there is much good to be had from all, but when a religion has been hyjacked by extremist religious leaders then I do question them . If there is anywhere out there that can show me where I am wrong then please show it to me. I am always ready to listen to most arguments about anything but will continue my strong CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED RIGHT, to speak my own opinion.
Michael, you and I would likely disagree, but it has for years appeared to me that in our own country Christianity has been hijacked by an extremist element, certainly no less so than has Islam anywhere in the world. Not a day passes in America that I do not hear the leaders of some extremist Christian groups preaching hatred for LGBT people, Barack Obama, those who support a pro-choice position, liberals and progressive of all stripes, and anyone else who does not share their narrow, legalistic interpretation of Scripture. Quite amazingly (to me, at least), not a day passes that I do not hear extremist Christian fundamentalist leaders urging the country to war—calling for death and destruction in the name of the Prince of Peace.
I would make one comment on your contention that Christians have not conducted a war in the name of religion since the Middle Ages. That is a proposition that will be hard to sell to the 300+ American Indian nations of this continent.
Those wars Prentis were to subjugat a people and to gain territorie, I know that there were Christian Preachers involved but they were not the reason we were at war with the Native Americans. I know you are a member of a large Native American tribe and what I say will mean very little to you but the American History I studied and I studied other books than the ones written by the winners religion played a very minor role in those wars. Yes I am not proud of the way the Indians were treated and in some instances are still treated today by our government and some people in the public sector but i do not beleive any were forced to become “Christians” the preachers came after the conquest.
Just as President McKinley gained popular support for the subjugation of the Filipino people by pledging to “Christianize” them, every American president from 1824 forward gained support for the death and destruction of Indians and their civilizations by appealing to the wildly popular notion of “manifest destiny.” Manifest destiny, every American of the 19th Century could tell you, was the inexorable, inevitable plan of Providence that American republican democracy and the Christian religion (specifically, the non-Catholic Christian religion) should bring all of the people and lands of the North American continent under their dominion. “God is on our side” became the national mantra as the sanction of the Almighty became increasingly necessary to cover up the horrors committed by men. Religious wars are never really about religion, Michael.
The So Called religous wars that were fought on this continent were fought to gain territory and to subjugate the American Indian a practice that I do not agree with but at no time (other than a few mis-guided zealots) did the govermental or religius leaders call for a complete extermination of any tribe or Nation here. Now I have read and heard many Muslims Mullahs and others call for the extermintion of the Nation Of Israel and to fight Jihad against the western Nations that support Israel. Now if you still beleive that the Muslim religion is peacefull please show me where in the Koran it says not to destroy or subjugate non-beleivers and to tolerate other religions. I can tell you now it is not there.
Michael, the instances in which peace, tolerance and respect for other religions are required of Muslims by the Quran are myriad. It is, I think, impossible that anyone could actually read those scriptures without taking note of them. However, just as we Christians have favorite, commonly used passages that we often quote and which immediately come to our minds, the often quoted passage in the Quran on the subject of religious tolerance is at Q 60:8 which, in translation, reads as follows:
“God forbids you not, with regards to those who fight you not for your faith nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them; for God loves those who are just.”
Throughout history, Islamic states have granted freedom of worship to all religious communities within their jurisdictions. Certainly, exceptions to this general statement can be found, just as exceptions to the general rule of religious tolerance can be found throughout American history.
You are certainly correct that Islam has its share of crazies, just as does Christianity. Can you think, off hand, of any crazier fanatics than those from Westboro Baptist Church who day in and day out picket and disrupt the funerals of fallen American soldiers because of their hatred of homosexuals? Or, what about Cotton Mather and the countless “witches” hanged, burned and crushed as a result of the Salem witch trials?
This fear of Muslims, which seems to be shared by a considerable number of Americans, is both baseless and frightening. Needless, pointless, baseless fear often leads people to act in very unfortunate ways.
On a further note, you might wish to reconsider your understanding of American history in light of the following:
“The fourth face you see on that “Stony Mountain” (Mt. Rushmore) is America’s first twentieth century president, alleged American hero, and Nobel peace prize recipient, Theodore Roosevelt. This Indian fighter firmly grasped the notion of Manifest Destiny saying that America’s extermination of the Indians and thefts our their lands “was ultimately beneficial as it was inevitable”. Roosevelt once said, “I don’t go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of ten are, and I shouldn’t like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth”. (Stannard, Op.Cit.)
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“There was no room for Indians in (Thomas) Jefferson’s empire of liberty,” writes Jones. Indeed, Thomas Jefferson himself spoke frankly of what we would today call genocide. “We must leave it to yourself to decide [whether] the end proposed should be their extermination, or their removal,” Jefferson once wrote to Clark’s older brother, the storied Indian fighter George Rogers Clark. “The same world would scarcely do for them and us.” —Jonathan Kirsch, review of William Clark and the Shaping of the West by Landon Y. Jones, Los Angeles Times, 6/6/04
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“In 1779, George Washington instructed Major General John Sullivan to attack Iroquois people. Washington stated, “lay waste all the settlements around…that the country may not be merely overrun, but destroyed”. In the course of the carnage and annihilation of Indian people, Washington also instructed his general not “listen to any overture of peace before the total ruin of their settlements is effected”. (Stannard, David E. AMERICAN HOLOCAUST. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. pp. 118-121.)
“In 1783, Washington’s anti-Indian sentiments were apparent in his comparisons of Indians with wolves: “Both being beast of prey, tho’ they differ in shape”, he said. George Washington’s policies of extermination were realized in his troops behaviors following a defeat. Troops would skin the bodies of Iroquois “from the hips downward to make boot tops or leggings”. Indians who survived the attacks later re-named the nation’s first president as “Town Destroyer”. Approximately 28 of 30 Seneca towns had been destroyed within a five year period.” (Ibid)
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“In 1807, Thomas Jefferson instructed his War Department that, should any Indians resist against America stealing Indian lands, the Indian resistance must be met with “the hatchet”. Jefferson continued, “And…if ever we are constrained to lift the hatchet against any tribe, ” he wrote, “we will never lay it down till that tribe is exterminated, or is driven beyond the Mississippi.” Jefferson, the slave owner, continued, “in war, they will kill some of us; we shall destroy all of them”. (Ibid)
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Okay… we could go on with this for hours, days… years. Suffice it to say that the suggestion that no American president or government leader ever called for the extermination of Indian nations is utterly ridiculous. American presidents and military leaders throughout the 19th century rarely called for anything else!
“FREEDOM ISN’T FREE”
Just American propaganda that military supporters regurgitate after reading it on a bumper sticker.
Bringing every troop home would eliminate hostility and that would eliminate threat. These people didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to pick on Americans. There are many free nations closer to Iraq than America. They want to hurt us for a reason.
Alas, our leaders will continue to dump most of our money into foreign lands. We will keep our bases spread arcoss the globe and continue to gain more enemies.
Voting these people out will do no good. You cannot vote them out. They are all the same. Come 2012, we will be forced to choose between two candidates that were chosen by a corrupt system. Both of which will receive major media coverage, while the third party candidate receives very little coverage. Thus eliminating his or her chances. The media is biased and the electoral college is an antiquated system that was designed before education was easily accessible.
America is screwed. We have lost control and there will be no recovery. We are now subjects to bias and control. Stay home on election day.