Five Years

I realize now that I neglected to mention in my previous post that today marks the 5th year anniversay of the Iraq war. Nearly 4,000 Americans have died and thousands upon thousand more have been greviously wounded, many of those individuals have likely suffered permanent damage. I would be remiss not to mention that hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians have also been killed in the ensuing violence. Frankly there isn't much that I can say that I haven't articulated before in previous posts to this blog. There is no doubt that the war in Iraq has been one of the largest foreign policy blunders in American history. The fact that hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost or permanently altered, both American and Iraqi, in a war that was predicated on lies is a tragedy beyond my comprehension. I simply do not posess the ability to transcribe into words the profound sadness I feel whenever I think of the war.

I suppose what I could reflect upon on this 5-year anniversary is what I've personally learned over the past 5 years. In a way, I've finally understood how meaningless war is. The fact that countries (not just the U.S.) resort to violence and killing to solve problems or to reach a stated goal is a particularly barbaric reality. I can understand when wars are fought in self-defense; as it is necessary for one entity to respond appropriately to another that is trying to destroy it. I can also understand when war is necessary to stop regimes such as the Nazis or the Japanese Empire. These enemies were hell bent on killing millions simply because said millions were different from them, or because they occupied a territory that the aggressor desired. Enemies like this can seldom be reasoned with and war becomes a necessity rather than a means to an end. However, we should never go to war unless we've exhausted every other avenue that might lead to a peaceful resolution. This did not occur in Iraq. There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator but he could have been dealt with had the UN been given the time and resources it needed. We should've exhaustively considered the consequences of our invasion. It's clear now that our government either was not aware, or more likely did not care about, the violent tensions between the Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish peoples of Iraq. It's also clear that there are those in our goverment whom to this day still don't understand the complicated ethnic and religous divisions within Iraq, John McCain chief among them.
I've learned that sometimes we are too quick to strike. We let our anger and our ignorance consume us, and rationality is left by the wayside. I believe that this is what happened with Iraq. 9/11 was still fresh in our minds and too many of us supported a war simply because we bought into the Bush Administration's lies that Saddam Hussein was partially responsible for the attacks on American soil.
I've learned that in times of crisis we often equate patriotism with supporting whatever the government does. We forget that one of the core principles of our democracy is our freedom to criticize our own government when we think it is wrong. Indeed the patriotism that existed after 9/11 through the first year of the Iraq war more closely resembled nationalism. Nationalism is a truly dangerous sentiment. It leads us to believe that we are superior to others, that we know what is best for other people. I consider myself a patriot, I love my country, but I am no nationalist.
I've learned that sometimes being a patriot isn't good enough. If your against the war you get questions like this: why don't you support the troops? Don't you know that your opposition helps the terrorists? Why do you hate America? I believe that we are better than this and that we have already begun to move past this. Unfortunately there are those in positions of power such as George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John McCain, and Joe Lieberman that will probably never understand this, and that is too bad for them.

This post/note should not be read as a mea culpa or a condemnation of anyone. It is simply my reflection over the past 5 years of war. I think we have all learned a lot and hopefully we have all emerged from this experience as better individuals. I suppose only time can tell. It is clear that war is terrible. Even when a war is successful there are many that are left dead and many of those that survive do so with lives that are for all practical purposes destroyed. It is true that there are those that return from war as better people. I would be remiss to deny such a thing. However the fact that so many lose so much as a result of such senseless violence is a calmity of the human condition.