I remember quite clearly what it was like in late 2002 and early 2003. Unlike the 79% of Americans who were in favor of going into Baghdad ala “Shock and Awe” fashion, I was strongly against going to war in Iraq at the time. You see, I had the discernment of mind as an American consumer of products that I was being sold something that was incomplete, shoddy, and misleading. On the news I continually heard negative things about “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, “Hans Blix”, “Saddam Hussein”, and of course “the French”. The Bush Administration’s Pimp-this-war-at-all-costs sales force was in full gear, and you bought it hook, line, and sinker. (Of course, if you are actually reading this, you were probably among the 21% of Americans who opposed the war – so you are not to blame.)
You right wing chickenhawks, you Fox News listeners, you Colin Powell worshipers, you Charlie Daniels faux patriots, you Support-Our-Troops-depoliticizing-the-issue-bumper-sticker-on-your-gun-racked-gas-guzzlin’ F-150 wannabes — called all of us people who opposed the war vile names. You characterized us as weak, spineless, and unpatriotic. Well, to paraphrase Tony Montana from the movie “Scarface” (after blowing the fuck out of the head of his companion in the front passenger seat with a handgun after Tony refused to allow this passenger to blow up a car with children in it) “Look at you now!” How ironic that it turns out that you initial supporters of the war in Iraq were the weak and spineless ones. You were weak and spineless back then for not having the intellectual fortitude or strength of character to question the majority. It was so much easier to just join the masses by knocking the Dixie Chicks, sporting your fake patriotic bumper stickers, Godblessing America till the cows came home, and Goddamning Iraq till your hard-ons subsided.
You people who supported the war and bought this line of shit that the Bush Administration put out there should be embarrassed and ashamed of yourselves. There is no excuse for your support of that war. No “what ifs”. I’m sick of hearing right wingers say things like “the war would have worked if only Rumsfeld wouldn’t have disbanded the Iraqi Army”, “the war would have worked if only we would have had more troops involved”, “the war would have worked if only we had a better strategy”, “the war would have worked if only the troops had the resources to win it”, “the war would have worked if only wacko terrorists from other countries had been held at bay.” Trust me, if all of these things had been properly taken care of, the war still would have failed — only the preceding list of excuses for the war would have been just a little bit different. In the past two weeks, the situation in Iraq has crossed the line from persistent civil unrest to the incipient stages of a protracted Civil War. Damn those French for being right.
I, personally, am not a pacifist. I subscribe to the “Just War” theory of military action. I for instance believe that going into Afghanistan in late 2001 and early 2002, although unpalatable, was a necessary thing, something that we had to do. Attacking Iraq in 2003, however, was totally unnecessary. The rule from now on should be this: If a president or whoever is in charge needs to shamelessly pimp a war to garner support for it, that war is not good and should not be supported. World War II, the American Civil War (at least if you live in the North), the 1991 Persian Gulf War, and our recent military actions in Afghanistan did not need to be sold to the American public. Those wars were necessary and no political propaganda machines were necessary to sell those wars.
I invite anyone to apologize (and make comments below) for your former support of the war in Iraq during the early months of 2003. You can apologize anonymously if you so desire. We all (myself included) make stupid purchases of things at times, and you should not lambasted too harshly for precipitately supporting a military action that has been responsible for over 150,000 deaths.
