Thoughts on the Impending War in Iraq
Letter to
The National Post written one week before the attack
The journalist and author I. F.
Stone once said “Governments lie” and no more so than in times of crisis,
whether real or imagined. When governments resort to vacuous slogans like “war
on terrorism”, “weapons of mass destruction”, “let’s free Iraq for democracy”
and “axis of evil” we can usually be certain that we’ve been had. The “weapons
of mass destruction” gibberish from the Bush camp is especially ironic. The
United States has more of these weapons than the rest of the planet combined and
has used them more often than any other country. They used napalm and other
chemical weaponry in Korea and Vietnam and with respect to the latter dropped
three times more bombs in terms of tonnage than the bombs dropped by all
combatants in World War II. Moreover, most of the weapons of mass destruction in
the world held by other countries were purchased from those very same Americans.
Is the real issue then “blood for
oil”? There can be no doubt that this is a powerful motive since it underlies
all American Middle Eastern policy since the end of World War II. Saddam Hussein
is but one of dozens of despots in the world who are oppressing their own people
– so why are the Americans venting their spleen on this particular tyrant who,
on the face of it, seems a threat only to his own people? In the opinion of
George W. Bush Iraq is guilty until proven innocent. They must prove to the
international community that they do not have such weapons. So much for
Logic 101?
When you take the moral high
ground you not only had better be right, but your own ethical life should be
untarnished and beyond reproach. But the history of the United States over the
past 250 years is a chronology of deception, repression and imperialism. Their
intrusions into Mexico, the Philippines, Cuba, Central and South America, South
East Asia and the Middle East are shameful to say the least. Not to mention the
decimation of and subsequent humiliation of their First Nations People and
enslavement of and subsequent racist policies toward those of African descent.
But there are other motives for
beating up on Iraq – the vivid memory of the indignity of losing the war in
Vietnam, the political ambition of George W. Bush, the desire for revenge and
retribution for September 11, the opportunity to use the latter as an excuse to
diminish civil rights of recalcitrant political factions and the attempt to
deflect attention from serious economic and social problems on the domestic
front – to name a few.
The attitude of British Labor
Prime Minister Tony Blair, a man who stands at the opposite end of the political
spectrum from Bush but sounds more like Attila The Hun is a total mystery.. But
labels on political parties don’t seem to have any relevance any more. Even if
we are credulous enough to believe the mythology of wanting to free Iraq from
tyranny as the real motive for an attack, Bush and Blair should heed the words
of Machiavelli almost 500 years ago.
"...there is nothing more
difficult to execute, nor more dubious of success, nor more dangerous to
administer than to introduce a new system of things: for he who introduces it
has all those who profit from the old system as his enemies, and he has only
lukewarm allies in all those who might profit from the new system."
- Machiavelli (The Prince - 1513 CE)
Note: For
anyone who is aware of the deep seated biases of the National Post, it is
not necessary to mention that the letter went unpublished
For
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