Tuesday, February 20, 2007
http://isbushantichrist.blogspot.com/Supporting the Troops = Getting More of Them Killed
What’s wrong with that equation? Probably no lie is more aggravating than the one that says in order to support the troops, we have to get more of them killed for Bush’s mistake.
Saying Congress must fully fund Bush’s mistake, is like saying that when children make the mistake of using drugs, their parents must support them by continuing to dole out (to their drug pushers) the money to support their habit, so they can destroy their lives. What kind of parents are they? And what kind of Americans are we when supporting our troops becomes the moral equivalent of enabling a fear-pushing president? Just because Bush would like us all to view the situation in an irrational manner doesn’t mean we have to fall for it - again.
Let’s make something absolutely clear from the get-go: There has never been a president who used, abused, and carelessly tossed away the lives of servicemen like this one. Bush uses up American lives like a bad gambler spends poker chips. The way our under trained, under equipped, and overly used and abused military force in Iraq has been treated has been nothing short of criminal, and from beginning to end.
Using the same reservists and National Guard troops over and over like gang-raped whores caught in a back-door draft – when all they really want is to get on with their lives – is nothing short of pathological, especially coming from a man who joined the National Guard in order to avoid fighting in a war. It’s as if he’s now punishing the National Guard (and the military generally) for his underlying cowardice and lack of patriotism.
When the troops are killed they’re treated just like spent shells and forgotten – nobody can even photograph their coffins, and heaven forbid that Bush would attend one of their funerals. If on the other hand, they’re lucky enough to only be wounded and permanently disabled, then they will have to contend with the effect of Bush’s cuts for the VA. They are likely to have their pay cut and be left struggling with the red tape and shortages that are never experienced by civilian contractors, who are literally throwing around wads of cash.
I mean seriously – cannon fodder is too mild a word for how Bush has treated the military. It’s something that goes beyond just wanting to involve as few Americans as possible for purely political reasons. Many retired Generals have recognized the same thing, which is why so many of them have come out to oppose his policies, to try to save the military. Even though they are mostly conservative Republicans, and this has been completely unprecedented. They know more than most Americans how far this administration has betrayed and brutalized the men and women in uniform.
Then again, that’s the risk you always take whenever you make a draft dodger the commander in chief. At least Clinton was a principled draft dodger in that he came out publicly against the Vietnam War. At least it’s morally consistent. But Bush was a weasely and unprincipled draft dodger (and so was Cheney) because they both supported the war, and yet did everything they could to avoid fighting in it.
It’s like when you’re a kid, and someone dares you to do something you don’t have the guts to do. You naturally want to get back at those kids who had the courage to do what you didn’t. The war in Iraq now seems like Bush and Cheney’s way of getting back at the military for proving they were cowards. I’m not saying it’s the only thing – there’s also greed and all that oil – but it’s a contributing factor that helps to explain how the troops have been treated in the meantime.
Yet even if Bush was supporting the troops rather than getting them killed and shamelessly using them (the ones still alive) in photo-ops – it would still be a mistake to say we must continue funding the war to support the troops. Because that would mean we are getting them killed for their sake rather than our national interest, and that’s clearly irrational.
If we’re allowing the troops to risk and sacrifice their lives – only because we’re afraid that somehow ‘the terrorists will follow them home’ – they’re really being used as cannon fodder, to protect us from our irrational fears. Not that fear of terrorism is completely irrational (though it has been blown out of all proportion), but any fear that compels us to make more terrorists in Iraq in order to defend against terrorism - that is clearly irrational. Especially since Al Qaeda has made a big comeback in Afghanistan and Pakistan, at the same time that we’ve been tied down in an Iraqi Civil War. That's why we need to look closer at how this irrational belief system concerning Iraq really came about.
Bush’s entire approach to fighting terrorism has always been a fatally flawed and senseless strategy because it’s all about giving into his irrational fears, rather than standing up to international terrorism (and particularly how it is being supported by countries like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan). Bush and Cheney are the same cowards/draft dodgers they always were (though now they have a lot more security and protection). The real difference is that cowards with power become bullies, even though deep down they are still very afraid.
Psychologically speaking, Bush and Cheney are still dodging the war, even though they’ve become war mongers. Their strategy in Iraq should be viewed from the perspective of avoiding responsibility (including any responsibility for their mistakes) by keeping themselves (and most Americans) out of the real war on terrorism, so that they (and we) will never have to make any real sacrifices, or change our lives one iota.
We can still keep guzzling oil and driving SUV’s and never worry about the consequences of our dependence on oil (while they can get much richer because of it), because those kind of sacrifices will be borne disproportionately by that very small proportion of the population unlucky enough to be connected to the military when Bush declared his ‘war on terror.’ (We should have taken Bush quite literally, because the war in Iraq is really the way he’s dealing with his personal insecurities and inadequacies as president.)
Just as Bush and Cheney stayed safe at home and sent others to die in their place in 1968, now they want to send others to die in their place in Iraq, so that they can feel safe at home. It’s the same thing. They are the same draft dodgers, and they are conducting this war from the same perspective. Only now, they’ve made us into a nation of draft dodgers in a war of perpetual terror. Our part is to stay afraid, be good shoppers, drive big cars, and just continue our lives just as if there wasn’t any war.
Just as it was irrational for Bush and Cheney to pretend they were supporting the war in Vietnam by shirking their duty and dodging the draft, it’s just as irrational to pretend that they (and we) are fighting a war on terrorism, by sending our troops to die in Iraq. The reason they can’t see how irrational and flawed their strategy really is, is because they are still reacting to their fears rather than viewing the situation more objectively.
Just as a more rational and objective viewpoint would say that by dodging the draft they really weren’t supporting the war in Vietnam (they were only protecting their hide)…. a more rational and objective view now would say that by continuing the war in Iraq, we are only making more terrorists rather than defeating them. That’s the reality of the situation. But when fear takes over, reality and rationality take a hike. That’s just the way our brains work.
Like I’ve said before – 9-11 only reminded Bush and Cheney how scared they really were. It regressed them psychologically, so they could re-enact their past experience with Vietnam, and how they dealt with their fears then. That’s why Bush said the lesson of Vietnam was, “We’ll succeed unless we quit.” Because emotionally, he’s still supporting and also dodging the same war. It's why they can be so cut-off from the realities of what's going on in Iraq, that they say things like, "“The bottom line is that we've had enormous successes." The bottom line is that they are measuring success by their subjective fears and feelings.
They can’t see that the war in Iraq is a terrible blunder because they’re acting out what makes then feel less afraid, rather than what would make our country more secure. They’re still defining the national interest by their own subjective feelings, rather than by the facts on the ground. It wasn’t in our national interest that they dodge the Vietnam draft – and it isn’t in our national interest that they continue the war in Iraq. But they can’t see that because they’re letting their fear do all their thinking. They have fully developed lizard brains. This is especially true with bullies like Dick Cheney, who measure their courage by how completely their actions are controlled by their underlying fears.
Supporting the war in Vietnam while remaining safe at home made both of them feel much more secure during the turbulent period of the 60’s…so that’s the position they took, and what they did at the time. They were overly-afraid of communism, but also too afraid to fight for their country. That’s why they supported the war in Vietnam, while dodging the Vietnam draft. Now they’re overly-afraid of terrorism, but also too afraid to admit their policies are making more terrorists. That’s why our troops are stuck in Iraq, so that they can feel more secure within themselevs. Their feeling that ending our involvement in Iraq would allow the terrorists to invade our country is an irrational fear based upon their emotional history, and a time when they supported the Vietnam War in order to feel more safe and secure at home. Yet, just as the communists didn’t take over the world after North Vietnam took over South Vietnam, the terrorists aren’t going to invade our country just because we leave the civil war in Iraq to the Iraqis.
The real problem is that Bush and Cheney have always been ruled by their fears rather than by principals (like duty, honor, integrity, and selflessness) that would have enabled them to finally face and overcome their fears. It may be too late for them and their personal ‘war on terror’ – but it’s not too late for our country to do the right thing and bring our troops home. Bush and Cheney will always be caught up in the quicksand of their fears, reliving the past, and determined to drag our country down with them. The same kind of fear that kept us in Vietnam for eight years could keep Americans needlessly dying in Iraq for years to come, unless we get a handle on our fears, and begin viewing the situation more honestly and objectively. The same way people can be controlled by their fears, and become destined to reliving the mistakes of their past - so can nations.
What seems to protect us from our fears is dysfunctional and self-defeating when our thinking becomes irrational, and we feel compelled to keep repeating the same mistakes. Continuing a war that is only recruiting more terrorists is irrational. Supporting our troops by getting more of them killed for a mistake is irrational. Thinking we can now fix a disaster that our presence has brought about is also, ultimately, irrational.
We may have broken their country, but we don’t own their country. (Though Bush, Cheney, and the oil companies would like to own it). Only the Iraqis can fix their own country, because they are the ones who own it. That may not be fair – and we may have to suffer the consequences of our mistakes in Iraq for a long time to come – but that’s just the way it is. That's reality. (I never voted for Bush either, and look at the sort of country I ended up with.) Life isn’t fair, and we all have to live with the consequences other people’s mistakes - even in a democracy. We can only make the best of it.
The Iraqis are going to have to make the best of the mess we’ve left them, while our duty is to bring our troops home, and stop prolonging this bloody mistake. Our duty is to hold those responsible, accountable. That’s the kind of support that we owe the troops now. Pretending it wasn’t a mistake is only digging the hole deeper for both ourselves and the Iraqis. It’s time for Americans to face their fears and stop digging more graves in Iraq.
posted by R. Stephen Hanchett at 12:49 PM
http://isbushantichrist.blogspot.com/ 
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