The War on Terror and Cheney's debate remarks

One of the many problems with the "War on Terror," is that it is poorly defined, by design - obviously, and Dick Cheney and others have used this to cast the widest net possible to justify any and all actions they take. Much like the Cold War and any other paradigm used to direct policy, the War on Terror loses its efficacy because it is so broad that it means everything and nothing all at the same time. I think it is very difficult for the average american who is working a full time job, juggling social obligations, and trying to survive debt to make heads or tales of the rhetoric. For most, "The War on Terror" sounds great! I mean how can you be pro-terror, its a no-brainer. Some Texas jolly boy talks about good and evil and they are sold. For some however the issue isn't quite as simple.
September 11th is a good starting point for a discussion on the "War on Terror," not because it was the first terrorist attack in history but because it is the de facto justification for all US military policy currently occuring. So what happened? A bunch of planes were hijacked and used as weapons to attack the Pentagon, The Twin Towers, and a field in PA. Many people died and a bunch of flags dotted the landscape. It was truly a horrible event. What we have done in response, however, is highly irrational and morally reprehensible.
President Bush was quick to declare war, play on the fears of the American people, and invade Afghanistan. Before we knew it we were overthrowing the Taliban and hunting Al Queda, in what was termed "Operation Enduring Freedom." In the process millions were in danger of starvation if they survived the tremendous US aerial bombardment. Almost three years after the invasion the humanitarian crisis continues to grow worse in Afghanistan, warlords are running most of the country, and Osama Bin Laden is still on the run. With these kind of results it begs the following questions: Why are we in Iraq? Why are there 5 times more troops in a country that Bin Laden is not even affiliated with, much less hiding in? Sadly most Americans hardly remember Afghanistan and don't seem to be persuaded by such arguments. I feel awful for what we have done to the Afghani people, namely, bomb the hell out of there already battered infrastructure, create more chaos, and then symbolically walk away. Our efforts in Afghanistan have undeniably failed.
Hot on the heals of his decimation of Afghanistan Bush decided to get PRE-EMPTIVE, by invading Iraq. Suddenly we were in danger of an immanent threat from Saddam Hussein. For over a decade he had been held down by sanctions and a no-fly zone, unable even to maintain his own borders militarily. We were told about the elite republican guard and warned that going into Baghdad was like a "knife fight in a phone booth." I remember watching the countdown to the "Shock and Awe" campaign, I was in Colorado on Spring Break, I felt helpless thinking about the Iraqi families. What was it like to know exactly when bombs would be dropped on your neighborhood? What was it like knowing that at any point you and your family could be killed? The sound must have been tremendous. Luckily I was ensured by my leaders about precision weapons and advanced targeting. Im sure the Iraqi people had peace of mind as well.
The U.S. and the "Coalition of the Willing" are now bogged down in an imperial occupation with no end in sight. U.S. and coalition troops are dying in greater numbers each month and we have failed to provide stability or security to the Iraqi people. All of the justifications for the war have evaporated. There were no weapons of mass destruction, there are no links to Al Queda, there are no connections between 911 and Saddam Hussein, and most significantly there is no evidence of any sort of immanent threat. This occupation is unjustified and disastrous. The more we learn about the pre-war intelligence the less acceptable the behavior and actions of our leadership seem. With Cheney still hinting at such justifications it appears that the administration refuses to admit any culpability in the current mess. Stay the course indeed!
The only thing worse than Cheney hinting at such justifications still being viable is the media's silent blessing of such nonsense. They have failed to be a critical source, although I never expected them to be, and as a result the administration is allowed to get away with much to much. If you really think about it the only victory the administration can claim is a victory over reason. Consider the evidence............

1.) After decades promoting the doctrine of weapons proliferation, namely nuclear, beacause their existence insured mutually assured destruction and as a result PEACE ON EARTH! YEAH RIGHT! We decided to change course and go after any and all improbable threats. And so the sound of the war drum beat:

Saddam Hussein is an immanent threat to the United States.

He has weapons programs that include significant stockpiles of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Wink wink, hint hint, maybe their is a connection to Al Queda.

Wink wink, hint hint, maybe they would help Al Queda use their weapons to attack the U.S.

Wink Wink, hink hint, maybe the even had something to do with 911.

And the insinuations grew, captivating the public and setting the ground work for shock and awe.

Anyone one who had seriously looked at the U.S. Iraqi record would realize rather quickly that the majority of said weapons the U.S. claimed Iraq possessed were given to them by us during the Iran Iraq war. Anyone who seriously looked at the record new that the Israeli's had bombed Saddam's last real hope at his nuclear dream years ago. Anyone who seriously looked at the record new Saddam had no weapons, and no means of delivery for his non-existant weapons. He could not maintain his border or his airspace let alone plot mass destruction.

It quickly became apparent after the "shock and awe" campaign that there were no weapons, in fact the speed of the operation indicated that the conventional forces were quite pathetic as well. So where was the threat? And so the rational became blurred:

Well we were going in on the basis of an immanent thread from WMD but now that we know we were wrong we will keep the search up indefinately.

Now that we know there were no WMD we need a new justification and rationale for being there. I got it FREEDOM, we are liberators, yes yes.

Not only are we liberating the Iraqi people and bringing them freedom but now we are giving them democracy as well. They are so lucky we came to help them.

Saddam might not have had weapons but he was EVIL so anything we do is justified. I mean he did attack his "own" people with chemical weapons.

Anyone who seriously looks at the history realizes rather quickly that when we talk about chemical attacks we are talking about the early-mid 1980's when the US blessed Saddam's use of them on the Iranian's. Note: not his own population. The other cases sited are referring to Kurdish populations in the north, who are considered somewhat autonomous and not really "his people" to begin with. To make the hipocrisy more damaging the same Khurdish people are being attacked by the Turks who border northern Iraq, with massive funding from Washington on what is described as a counter-insurgency or counter-terrorism operation.

This is not to say that Saddam Hussein was a great guy, he was a ruthless dictator. But the world has many of those and we did not invade those countries to bring freedom or democracy. Ironically the current Harper's index reports that the "Ratio of the minimun number of beheadings by the Saudi Government last year to those by Saudi terrorists so far this year: 50 :1. If we really want to get honest and fight to crush brutality I am all for it. Perhaps we can pick some more applicable targets, Khartoum for instance, but then again who really cares about a relationship between ideology, rhetoric and reality?



End Notes

1.) It should be noted that I did not forget the important aspect that Saddam's "intentions" played in all of this. I feel that his "intentions" deserve an entirely different essay, stay tuned for that.