Chaos In Iraq: ‘Of Criminal, Moral, Political & Metaphysical Guilt’
(photo courtesy fearbush.com)
“In what sense can the average American be held accountable for the chaos of Iraq?,” James Reston Jr. asks this pertinent question in the USA Today.
“Between those who manage the war in Washington and those who fight it in Iraq, the American people enjoy a safe middle ground. The country is both at war and not at war. The war machine in Washington hums along as it did in other great international conflicts. U.S. troops fight as vicious a war abroad as they have ever fought.
“But at home, there is no sacrifice, no serious deprivations, no mobilization of youth. Life goes on pretty much as normal.
“The philosophers tell us that there are four types of responsibility for which an individual and a society can be held to account for aggressive or unprovoked war…
To read the full article please click here…
In this context I came across another interesting write-up “How the Press Can Prevent Another Iraq” by Dan Froomkin at the Nieman Foundation website.
“Journalists, and through us the public, have a grave responsibility to not be complicit in another march to war on false pretenses. So what lessons should we have learned from Iraq?…”
Please click here to read the piece…
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3 Responses to “Chaos In Iraq: ‘Of Criminal, Moral, Political & Metaphysical Guilt’”
That’s sums up why I think it’s bull**** when charges of anti-Americanism are thrown at me and others who want an end to this horrible war on Iraq.
Those like MvdG want us to focus on external threats (Iran) while virtually ignoring our own misconduct at home and abroad. We have a moral obligation to shore up our own problems, to prevent the crimes that our state commits in our name before we even begin to deal with hypothetical threats from “rogue-nations.”
Swaraaj,
The second link you provided is excellent. That list should be required reading before any political reporter in this country writes anything of even moderate importance.
Well, we the people share only a little. Bush bears it almost entirely himself. He has mislead not just the public but in 2003 Congress with false reports of events that would have actually provided justification. After the regime was toppled he failed to provide the security needed for a country that suddenly had no law and order or even infrastructure for basic needs like water and electricity. The resultant chaos was natural and should have been seen coming.
Instead, Bush and company thought the now leaderless Iraqis would be so overwhelmed at the unasked for shot at democracy that they would magically maintain civil order themselves without any kind of framework to do so. So basically, I think this mess lies entirely with the Bush administration. At this point things are such a mess there is no way out except for enough bloodshed for one of the dominant factions in Iraq to take over and return the country to the state of a functional autonomous nation.
Unfortunately whatever faction that is is going to be another military dictatorship, but this time a religous one.