U.S., Iraq & The Lessons of T.E. Lawrence: ‘Your Foundations Are Very Sandy Ones’
T.E. Lawrence and John McCain are bona fide war heroes, but when it comes to Iraq, that’s where any similarity between the two men ends.
Lawrence (top photo), one of the most astute observers of Iraq and the Middle East of any generation, knew impending disaster when he saw it and warned three years after the British occupation of Iraq commenced in 1917 (bottom photo) that it:
“Is a trap which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honour. The [British people] have been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information. The Baghdad communiques are belated, insincere, incomplete. Things have been far worse than we have been told . . . It is a disgrace to our imperial record, and may soon be inflamed for any ordinary cure. We are today not far from a disaster.”
McCain, devoid of Lawrence’s nuanced insight and lacking his first-hand experience, offered a warning of another kind in a major policy speech last week:
“It would be an unconscionable act of betrayal, a stain on our national character as a great nation, if we were to walk away from the Iraqi people and consign them to the horrendous violence, ethnic cleansing, and possibly genocide that would follow a reckless, irresponsible, and premature withdrawal.”
The British occupation of Iraq, which when adjusted for population then and now involved about 10 times the number of troops the U.S. deployed for the Surge, ended with a whimper after four decades.
This is because the Brits didn’t belong there in the first place and never were able to understand the Arab mindset and historic sectarian enmities. The Americans also don’t belong in Iraq, and McCain, acting for all the world like an imperialist poobah, has famously remarked that it would be fine with him if America troops stayed in Iraq for 100 years.
This despite the reality that presence would be a fraction of the troops that Britain deployed and the opposition today is far better organized – and armed — and it is long past time for the Iraqis to pick up the pieces from a disastrous American occupation and cobble together some sort of confederation.
McCain may have trouble telling Shiites from Sunnis, but he does know one thing that Lawrence didn’t and it is an important but largely unspoken element of why the presumptive Republican nominee has made staying in Iraq indefinitely the centerpiece of his presidential campaign: Oil.
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8 Responses to “U.S., Iraq & The Lessons of T.E. Lawrence: ‘Your Foundations Are Very Sandy Ones’”
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Shaun said: “McCain, acting for all the world like an imperialist poobah, has famously remarked that it would be fine with him if America troops stayed in Iraq for 100 years. “
No…you are taking McCain's words out of context. Shaun, and other Obama apologists, insist on Obama NEVER being taken out of context, but this canard is a classic example of the Double Standard of the Obamaniacs (see video clip link below of Obama at a Presser being called out on this same smear) .
McCain, in his full context quote, referenced the long term US troop presences in Germany and N. Korea — now at half a century — and also qualified it by saying some US presence was OK with him as long as US troops weren't getting killed.
NOT an century-long occupation or forever war, as Shaun makes on.
Here is a video clip of Obama at a Presser making this same “100year” out of context smear of McCain.
A reporter calls Obama out on his “out of context” smear of McCain, indicating the full context, and points out that this is the same thing that Obama complains has been done to him. Look at Obama's reaction. He is pissed. Obama Rules
http://thepage.time.com/video-obama-semi-heated…
Marlowecan:
I am not letting McCain off the hook. His comment was clear enough and for him to equivocate by saying that the deal's off if American troops are getting killed is asinine. This is Iraq, not Indiana.
Shaun, the US has troop commitments all around the world…and unless it retreats into isolationism again (which no one is advocating) US troops/advisors etc. will be based abroad for decades to come. Why should not Iraq be any different?
McCain's “saying that the deal's off if American troops are getting killed” is actually smart. (1) It gives him a political out for major troop withdrawal; (2) It conceptualizes Iraq 2008 as the Balkans 1998.
You are right, “This is Iraq, not Indiana.” But the Balkans are quiet now, after appalling atrocities a decade ago.
Nonetheless, you took McCain out of context.
Obama has been hit with similar out of context hits (e.g., his grandmother…or his daughters recently, for god's sake). These are stupid, and Obama's supporters rightly complain.
However, one CANNOT in all fairness complain about being taken out of context…and then do the same to your opponent.
Obama's aides have been hitting McCain with this, as was Obama in that video.
But it is VERY significant that Obama was called on the Double Standard by a reporter…moreover that ABC News is hosting the video clip.
It is easy to roll over HRC, who is hated by the press. A lot harder to roll over McCain, who is liked and respected by many in the media.
A foretaste of the fall, perhaps.
McCain may have been taken out of context on this one. But, he's running as the pro-war better Iraq prosecution candidate. Let's hope Bush doesn't join the chorus for – bomb, bomb Iran.
Marlowe + Shaun,
McCain has also said that we can't leave if Iraq is unstable. So we can't leave if the violence continues (it's a matter of honor + not letting the terrorists win), and we should stay if there is no violence (in the Korean model). That translates into us staying there forever no matter what.
It's absolutely unrealistic for him to declare that there is no scenario where our troops will leave Iraq. At least Obama and Clinton offer some nuance about how conditions on the ground will dictate the speed of our redeployment.
No one would claim that Canada is an isolationist country, and yet, somehow, they've managed to not place thousands of troops in every country around the globe.
Marlowecan is right. Obama did take McCain's words out of contect.
So, let's look at the context.
He was comparing troops in Iraq with troops in Germany. When did US troops in Germany come under fire or participate in armed battles between factions within the nation?
It's really long past time to stop tryng to squeeze current conditions into scenarios from a very different past. The shoe doesn't fit.
WWII is over, and if it were happening now, it would be a very different war from the historic one. Just imagine the effect of CNN coverage of Hiroshima.
Although McCain is softening his tone lately, his message is that of being a warrior. He keeps referring to VICTORY a la GWB, without defining how we would recognize victory when we run into it. When Iraq is a stable and democratic ally of the US? That quest may very well turn into the forever war.
Nope, I don't like the context one bit.
Of course, Obama is bobbing and weaving on his withdrawal plan as well. I get the sense that he doesn't want to commit, in order to avoid fire from both sides of the Iraq argument.
Frankly, I wish Obama and the other candidates would give an honest, adult speech about Iraq of the same caliber as Obama's speech on race. Lay out the good and the bad, the hope and the fear, the cost and the benfit, and involve the citizens in the responsiblity for the outcome, whatever that may be.
That, however would probably be political suicide. We are treated like children by politicians, and someitmes I think that's because we are chilfren, addicted to word candy and unable to face unpleasant truths..