Big Guns and a Megaphone
The Bush Administration and its supporters would like to know, whose side are you on? Are you one of those terrorist-supporters who wants to “cut and run” in Iraq, or are you a true American willing to “stay the course,” even though the course has cost the lives of over 2,500 U.S. soldiers and more than 40,000 Iraqi civilians, with no end to the violence in sight
Distilling the issue of Iraq down to side-taking sound bites is a familiar Bush administration tactic, one that was used to sell the Iraq invasion to Americans (whether or not they wanted it) over three years ago. Unfortunately, such dramatized tactics further divides our country and stifles constructive debate, and when the current argument for “staying the course” includes the chilling warning “if we don’t fight terrorist there, we will fight them here at home,” it feels more like a form of bullying than a rationale for foreign policy.
Personally, I can’t begin to answer the heartbreaking question of what to do about Iraq without first expressing my frustration and then asking two pressing questions that have remained unanswered: “What are we doing there in the first place, and who will be held accountable for the misrepresentations that got us there and the failed policies that have followed?
With a big megaphone and a world stage to shout their message from, the Bush administration’s “Weapons of Mass Destruction” and “Mushroom Cloud” scare tactics drowned out the voices of reason. They ignored world opinion, the U.N. Security Counsel, most of our allies, and the opinions of many Middle Eastern policy experts when they pursued a war based on a hypothetical threat with an urgency that was unwarranted. Some of those voices of reason were the same ones who counseled President Bush’s father during the first Gulf War, predicting that taking Saddam out of power could open the way for something far worse. As bad as Saddam’s rule was, they knew his dictatorship was holding Iraqi warring factions apart.
The war in Iraq has been a mismanaged disaster and has created deadly repercussions in several ways. First, by becoming invading occupiers of a country that had not attacked us, we played into al Qaeda hands, giving them a ready made cause for recruiting more America-hating militants into their ranks. Secondly, after seeing the ousting of Saddam and what can happen to a country that can’t protect itself, both Iran and Japan have stepped up their efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. Lastly, and most tragically, is the large numbers of innocent Iraqis that have been killed because of the war. More civilians are dying on a daily basis than did under Saddam’s rule, and because modern Iraq is a country made up of Western-imposed boundaries that force rivals to live side-by-side, it has all the signs of being an ongoing source of civil violence (if not all out civil war) in a similar way that the Israel and Palestine conflict is.
Upbeat portrayals of progress in Iraq, made by the Bush administration, have been as off target as their claim that we had to invade Iraq because of its stockpiles of WMDs. They contradict the Pentagon’s own mid-May to mid August assessment, which was grim and included the following conclusions: Concern about civil war has increased in recent months; Iraqi casualties have shot up 51 percent; and sectarian blood-letting is gradually spreading north.
With support for the war dwindling more each day, the Bush administration has picked up their megaphone again. This time the word “Fascism” has replaced “Weapons of Mass Destruction.” Instead of images of mushroom clouds we get those of Hitler, along with inflammatory remarks comparing those who don’t support the war to those who ignored the holocaust when it was taking place.
Will tough talk like that save Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s job? Will it rally enough fervor to get a few Republicans re-elected in November?
“Staying the course” is a noble sounding phrase, meant to play on the best in Americans. But as Americans, isn’t it our duty to guard against governmental abuse of power, to assure that our soldiers aren’t put in harm’s way unnecessarily, and to demand accountability from our government officials when they are?
I find it difficult to accept the advice of “staying the course” from an administration that has led us so far off course.
Post note: The following was written for the Roanoke Times and The New River Free Press.
September 9th, 2006 9:30 am
Bravo to you for writing this and ditto! I’ve been so angry at Bush’s sudden re-emergence onto public television and his reasoning…the upcoming elections….that I haven’t been able to coherently form my own post. So thanks, Colleen, for saying it all for me.
September 9th, 2006 10:17 am
You state it so clearly and eloquently, yet I doubt you can change one person’s mind.
I constantly ask “Fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 highjackers were Saudi. Why are we in Iraq”
I never get a reasonable or logical answer.
BTW, the American death toll in Iraq has now exceeded the number killed in the World Trade Center buildings. Does nobody see the irony in that?
September 9th, 2006 10:22 am
Thanks for writing this. It is just an epic disaster.
I have to have faith that things are going to change.
September 9th, 2006 11:04 am
Bravo! As you may recall, we met Rumsfeld at Marine Headquarters in the summer just before the war started. If I had known then what I know now – I might have locked him in a closet, or something. Mr. kenju asked him what the average person could do – and he said pray like never before. Little did we know how important that would be – but not for the same reasons he thought.
September 9th, 2006 11:11 am
An excellent post. I agree with yellow jacket, that even with arguments that seem so clear and basic, we can’t seem to change anyone’s mind. And add onto all the terrible things that you pointed out, the fact that we have secret prisons, arrest Americans of middle-eastern descent under the guise of “material witness”, only to never charge them or have them participate in a trial, exercise warrantless wire-tapping, condone torture and commit human rights crimes far worse than any I’ve ever heard of even in countries, like China, that are known for abusing human rights and you have one sad scary situation.
“Yee-Haw is not a foriegn policy!”
September 9th, 2006 11:20 am
Some minds must be getting changed because Bush’s approval ratings keep dropping, but now that he is campaigning again, it will be interesting to see how many will buy the same old tactics…saying it loud and often enough makes it so…and playing on people’s emotions and fear. There are a certain amount who will never change their minds.
September 9th, 2006 11:20 am
I usually don’t comment on the blogs I read, but this one is a must respond! Thank you for being a voice of reason in the wilderness of lies, deception, and arrogance. And we have to keep on offering the alternate voice to the powerbrokers of the Administration. To keep silent would be worse.
September 9th, 2006 11:27 am
Can you believe they have the audacity to throw it out like that? you either are or aren’t….when even their own party members are bailing.
Iraq must have a time line. We have to get out. If we don’t give them a deadline we will be there another 10 years.
Bush and his henchmen will do anything to keep the Republicans in power and personally I hope the sons of b****** get a big BIG wakeup come November.
I love my country and I love those soldiers fighting for me and how dare some C ass average, no war knowledge, lush, bumling fool tell me WHAT I should think about anything!
Good job on being the worst president that EVER lead our country Georgie Boy! Give yourself and Dick an ole’ pat on the back for me!
September 9th, 2006 11:49 am
Colleen, I read my daily blogs in Google Reader and this post came in the middle of a stream from Kos and Carpetbagger and Josh. Even then it caught my attention before paragraph two. I had to skim back to the top and see who was writing…Thanks for saying it.
There is a thought that keeps percolating in my brain. It has to do with imagination and leadership. What type of people have we become that the best this country can come up with is a bunch of ostriches? I mean if I here one more time that “no one could have expected that” I think I’ll scream. Am I not someone? I have foreseen a 9/11 type event for the last decade or more. I thanked the lord for years that it hadn’t happened and when it did I figured we would learn and grow.
I must borrow President Bush’s favorite phrase though and say I could not foresee the way this administration would react. Is anyone else as disgusted as I am to be led by people of such limited imagination? That none of what has happened in the last four years was foreseen is BS. That they did not wish to think about it, is more truthful.
The fact that no one is looking into the way America has been lied to is the most criminal part of this whole sorry affair.
September 9th, 2006 1:09 pm
Nodding my head feverishly while reading your commentary Col!
And let me repeat what you said at one point, “…most tragically, is the large numbers of innocent Iraqis that have been killed because of the war.” And soooo many young men and woman killed maimed. It’s too much to take. It stinks to high heavens!
I don’t believe a word of the propaganda that this administration shoves down our throats, via their worn out rhetoric and a rewriting of history and fake movie docudramas.
Yesterday I wrote about the TV movie due to air tomorrow; “Path to 9/11” which is nothing but an attempt to change history via public perception….the same way “Staying the course” is used to further divide.
September 9th, 2006 2:33 pm
Brava for a wonderfully written piece. I am hoping against hope that this country wises up enough to send our “leaders” packing. A friend of mine visiting England has emailed me about how much the US is absolutely hated now over in Europe and elsewhere. Sadly, so many of our citizens continue to be bamboozled. I’ve been noticing how gas prices are suddenly plunging — just in time for the elections — and expect to see many more tactics put into play before November.
September 9th, 2006 2:39 pm
I’m just curious where you are from? Candyland? Where everything works out perfectly in a perfect world. Sometimes I’m amazed at people’s lack of historical knowledge and context. Rumsfeld said it best, many people “suffer from moral and intellectual confusion about what is right and wrong”.
The US lost over 290K in WWII, over 620K in the Civil War, and just under 60K in Vietnam. The Iraq war total casualties are currently under 2.7K, or about as much as a bad month in Vietnam. Every life lost is a tragedy, but in a historical context, it’s low. http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/bg1954.cfm
You mean you are not a historian? Nor a military advisor? Nor privy to the same information that the President of US and his administration has? Well I certainly feel a lot better having your opinion about foreign policy given your qualifications.
I see that you haven’t picked on Afghanistan. Is that because the war is not having as much difficulty there? Convenient of you to cherry pick the problem areas in hindsight. Am I the only one who sees this as playing politics with American lives? It’s less than admirable, to be euphemistic.
Why are we in Iraq? Because we need to protect our interests in the Middle East, which are political and energy resource stability. If it takes 10 years to do it, then so be it. If it inconveniences us, then so be it. If it angers those who have other agendas or don’t have the principles and patience to retain the democratic and leadership roles that America has had, then so be it. If my sons are called to duty by their country, then so be it.
Do we really care about the exact language and propaganda used to sway opinion for war? Did we not use propaganda in all previous wars? Did we not imprison the Japanese during WWII? Are we sorry for that war? Let’s keep focused on the big picture, and that is responding to increasing attacks from Islamic fanatics in our own country (WTC 2-26-93 and 9-11-01) and abroad (USS Cole 10-12-00, Nairobi 1998, and Beirut 1983).
I do agree with one comment in here and that is people have made up their minds on the issue. I know your post has only re-inforced mine.
September 9th, 2006 3:22 pm
Jim,
I think you’re missing my point, that the war in Iraq didn’t have to happen. I appreciate that you have a different point of view, but if you want to voice it here please leave off the condescending saracasm.
September 9th, 2006 3:36 pm
It is so disheartening to have the leaders of our country lying to us.Trying to trick us into taking a path that will ultimately lead us to a dead-end. What is the logic behind it? Why? Who will benefit? Money and power can only take us so far and even then there is still an emptyness that exist. It is a very near-sighted way of thinking.
True power (happiness) is in the truth, not trying to manipulate situations into something they are not. We as a country will fail if we don’t stand together and fight the terrists that have highjacked our political system. It is a burden we can not allow our children to carry.
September 9th, 2006 4:03 pm
Amen, bravo, ditto, right on! 🙂
This is a great piece. Last week as I drove toward my new home in Central, SC, I saw a car with a couple of good bumper stickers:
“They hate our policies, not our freedom.”
and
“Dissent is patriotic.”
It was heartening to see that in a state that has historically been very, very red and a major center for the military-industrial complex. The thing that angers me the most is when someone accuses me of not loving my country just because I don’t agree with the current “administration” (I use the term loosely.)
Good for you for raising your voice. You are not alone, and dissent *is* patriotic!
September 9th, 2006 4:49 pm
Colleen, my point was that you have neither the info nor authority to make US foreign policy decisions, neither does “Europe”, the UN, or “the rest of world”.
BTW Kathy – gas prices are falling on the end of the summer driving season, strong inventories, slowing global growth, and an end to hostilities between Lebanon and Israel. Sorry but you can’t spin that as election tactics. And I lived in Manhattan on 9/11/01, so I’ll watch the movie and see if anything looks untrue from a “regular citizen’s” point of view. My guess is that this movie doesn’t play well with Hillary’s 2008 goals.
September 10th, 2006 12:02 am
I applaud you, Colleen…and I don’t need a historian or a military advisor to tell me what’s happening to our country. I am intelligent enough to see it for myself. Sorry, Jim…but I’ve never, in my 73 years as a US citizen been so ashamed of our governing body. I was in Italy in 2001 and they loved us. I went back in 2005 and, thanks to George and his cronies, they now hate anything that smacks of America.
As far as all the recent speeches go…I say, let him talk…the more he says the deeper he digs that hole.
September 10th, 2006 12:15 am
To Jim:
I think you are spot on that the mini-series tomorrow night won’t help Hillary (I could care less).
My criticism is that this kind of drama will not be accurate. Even the conservatives are admitting this.
Why falsify the record and muddy the waters even more than they already are? Do we citizens deserve the truth? Or the Hollywood version?
Since it seems to be so important to you that one be “qualified” in order to offer an opinion, then I suggest that you should be consistent and use that same standard of measurement when it comes to the history of such an important day.
As for the gas prices – my unqualified guess is that this so called recovery has a lot to do with Nov. 7th being right around the corner.
It seems to me the oil companies and CEOs can afford to loosen up a bit to help their crony buddies. But what do I know?
September 10th, 2006 1:08 am
I disagree with the bumper sticker: They hate our policies not our freedom.
NO! They HATE our freedom. They HATE our ability to choose what religion we practice, or choose not to practice. How can anyone think otherwise when they say in print for Americans to convert to Islam or be prepared to be killed. These are not reasonable people and frankly not deserving of any understanding.
September 10th, 2006 7:39 pm
Well put Colleen, I couldn’t agree with you more. Ignore the trolls and keep up the good work.
September 10th, 2006 8:58 pm
just some facts i want to throw out there: the clinton administration also believed saddam had wmd’s and bush was looking at the same evidence clinton looked at. a nuclear weapons program was found in iraq after the ’91 gulf war. that’s why the u.n. passed the first resolution 12 years before and had inspectors over there. saddam had 12 years to cooperate with the u.n. (by the way- are we going to let iran and north korea have 12 years, too?) both the bipartisan senate intelligence committee and the bipartisan silberman-robb commission on intelligence concluded that bush accurately reported what intelligence, both ours and other countries’, was gathered and presented and that neither bush or his leading offices manipulated intelligence. also- a lot of other countries came to the same conclusion of sadaam posessing wmd’s based on their intelligence. i even remember seeing tons of interviews on all media outlets with iraqi exiles that were in former important positions under saddam who insisted he had wmd’s. so where are the facts proving bush lied? if someone can convince me they are out there, i’ll eat crow. as far as where the wmd’s are- i don’t know. but saddam had months of warning. it also seems odd to me, that all of sudden, there are small countries like iran and north korea with nuclear capabilities.
and a little look into history- in the 1930’s, the u.s. took a stance of uninvolvement and appeasement towards the germans. hitler took advantage of this and strengthened and amassed forces and proceeded to invade neighboring countries and put them under nazi rule. sounds a little familiar to me!
i believe saddam needed to be ousted, but i also believe it’s not that great of timing and we are overextended. we should have followed through in the first gulf war. then clinton threw a couple of missiles saddam’s way and never followed through. we need to see it through this time. a really good book from an iraqi perspective is “masada:daughter of iraq”. she finishes her memoir right when the iraq war is about to begin and basically says that she’s afraid to get her hopes up. that the iraqis have thought they were going to be liberated the other two times and america didn’t follow through.
but i am just a “brainwashed” bushy and don’t think for myself. so my take on the situation might not count. colleen- i do respect your opinion and i believe that if you are passionate about something, you need to speak out about it. if i had a blog, i’d do the same, it would just be from the opposite viewpoint. 🙂
September 10th, 2006 10:39 pm
Hi Amy and thanks for sharing your views.
Yes, Saddam DID have the start of a nuclear weapons program in 1991, but it was disarmed by weapon’s inspectors during the inspections back then. In the run up to the war, several inspectors came forth to say so, Scott Ritter being one who spoke out the loudest.
Why did Bush abort the weapon’s inspections midstream the second time around? What was the urgency? The International Atomic Energy Association reported to the UN then that nuclear inspector’s found no evidence that Iraq had revived its nuclear program since its elimination in the 1990’s.
Before the war many people came forth to protest going to war, military men included, but they weren’t listened to. I remember one full page ad in the Washington Post, organized by Republicans and business leaders and signed by Retired Admiral Jack Shanahan that said “Iraq represents no threat today to national security that warrants a pre-emptive strike.” Even Colin Powell said in February 2001 that Saddam “has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction.”
There is evidence, and have been official reports saying so, that the Bush administration played-up intelligence that fit in with their contention that Iraq had WMDs while ignoring the intelligence that countered those assertions.
Everything you state is what was being put out by those with the biggest megaphone. Part of the spin was that “everybody” believed Iraq had WMDs. Many didn’t, at least not to the extent that the Bush administration was reporting it, but their voices were discredited and drowned out.
You can google the “Downing Street Memo,” actual minutes transcribed during a Prime Minister’s meeting that was published in a British paper, to read more about how the war was sold to the American people.
September 11th, 2006 9:32 am
colleen- i’ve never heard that “everybody” believed that Iraq had wmd’s, but several big countries did, including china and russia. and, again, so did clinton during his administration- here’s a quote: “The community of nations may see more and more of the very kind of threat Iraq poses now: a rogue state with weapons of mass destruction, ready to use them or provide them to terrorists. If we fail to respond today, Saddam and all those who would follow in his footsteps will be emboldened tomorrow.” — Bill Clinton in 1998. and another quote:
“I am absolutely convinced that there are weapons…I saw evidence back in 1998 when we would see the inspectors being barred from gaining entry into a warehouse for three hours with trucks rolling up and then moving those trucks out.” — Clinton’s Secretary of Defense William Cohen in April of 2003
if saddam was innoocent of trying to develop these, why did he continue to refuse to give inspector’s full access? he only did so in the few weeks leading to the war, after he had plenty of time to hide or remove evidence.
colin powell also quoted this: “Military action was justified by Iraq’s violation of 12 years of U.N. resolutions,” he said in an interview with First Channel Russia during a visit to Moscow.
“Iraq had the intent to have weapons of mass destruction and they had previously used weapons of mass destruction. They had programs to develop such weapons,” Powell said (from cnn.com)
so i’m sure there are plenty of quotes to defend both sides. and just because facts are blared over a megaphone, it doesn’t keep them from being facts. there is so much spin to the contrary in the media, the bush administration probably needs a megaphone to be heard.
the majority of the senate and congress agreed to and supported the war, including john kerry, based on the same evidence bush had. now that it’s not going as planned, though, everyone is bailing out and attacking bush, so they can cover their butt’s.
September 11th, 2006 9:58 am
Yes, many did believe there were WMD, and some jumped on the bandwagon (group think), and some wanted to cover their butts. There was also some confusion with the term “weapons of mass destruction,” whether it meant nuclear, chemical or both. I think many did believe there was some chemical weapons.
September 11th, 2006 10:40 am
well said colleen.
frustrating to read the comments.. some people really have no heart huh? since when do we look at horrenous historical death tolls to justify todays?
oh just because millions of people starved to death in the irish famine we should allow it again today? what would be the difference in that reasoning?
for money and power and with no regard for life some people have sent our armed forces to fight a misguided war using terrorism as a cover.. and people still try to justify their deaths by saying more died in the last wars.
each death is a disaster.
our time money and intelligence wouyld be better put to use, biding time and finding the real culprits. not wasting it and all those lives on alienating whole regions and religions and creating new hatred.
but how does anybody talk to such heartless and blinded people? what value can such people put on a childs life?
or on anyones?