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Rethinking the American Mission
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A biweekly column by Karen Kwiatkowski, Lt. Col. USAF (ret.) It is becoming clear to conservatives, neoconservatives and liberals in Washington, and to the majority of Americans outside the beltway, that George W. Bush's Iraq adventure is the wrong war at the wrong time. This war brings America few advantages, and those few are shrinking in number. Not long ago, beneficiaries of the pretentious, pre-emptive Iraq invasion and occupation included neoconservatives who dreamed up an experiment in Muslim democracy achieved through Christian militarism and permanent military basing in Iraq. Neoconservatives of all persuasions were galvanized by a President who wanted a bumper sticker campaign slogan, revenge and managerial control over regional oil resources. The government of Israel, working for over forty years to contain and weaken Iraq as a back-door threat, was also thought of as a beneficiary of Saddam Hussein's ouster and the American occupation. The Pentagon bureaucracy gained new funding and legal authority for new types of war strategies, while giving up none of the old funding, bases or equipment for which congressional districts clamor like so many hungry baby birds. Military weapons producers in the U.S., Israel, and elsewhere benefited as orders jumped and backorders accumulated. And despite the State Department's flawed report on terror, the Bush era's quantum increase in global terrorism means that all government agencies conducting offensive operations will be well-funded for years. New four-star General George W. Casey, Jr. will report to Baghdad hoping to gain for the first time in his career the experience of commanding troops in combat. Is this on-the-job training or just another example of the Peter Principle at work in the administration? As in all wars fought for political fantasy, soldiers performing difficult tasks in treacherous, confusing environments are often ill-served by senior military apparatchiks. USA, Inc. nervously unveils its Iraq "the Un-sovereign" line on June 30th. While the Iraqi resistance campaigns for a long-awaited liberation from the latest dictator, a sea change has already occurred in America. Conservatives now realize that Bush is no conservative. Many, like the American Conservative Union's Don Devine, see him as a big-government spendthrift gone adrift without a strategy. They are also increasingly concerned about Dick Cheney's health, as he appears more and more indictable. Cheney's profane outburst in the Senate is just one more reminder of the prevailing Bush-Cheney hallmark - offense substituting for measured defense. Liberals, irate by nature, realize with sudden solemnity that they have been right all along on the Iraq war. Liberals who consider politics the road to change now have a serious responsibility. Sadly, they are stuck with a candidate who slavishly endorses the Bush-Cheney Iraq strategy, or lack thereof. Evangelical and conservative Christian sectors in America have slowly reawakened to the danger of a Christianity dependent on Caesar's largesse. They feel betrayed and unenthused by the current President. While Israel implements a "Plan B" putsch for Kurdish independence as a new regional distraction, Washington neoconservatives wring their hands. Their plan was for more Iraqs, not fewer, and their faith is shaken. Licking their wounds, around 100 policymakers and wonks participated in a neocon love-in at the Washington Mayflower Hotel. Co-sponsored by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the decayed-but-not-yet-dead Committee on the Present Danger, the attendees discussed Iraq and the war on terrorism, lamenting that more people aren't buying the neoconservative line these days, and wondering out loud why Iraqis can't be more like Americans! The rest of America, relying on common sense and refusing to play Orwellian mind games, is actually unified on Iraq. Americans agree that whatever it is that we are doing in Iraq, it isn't working very well. They agree that the reasons Bush and Cheney offered as justification for war were inaccurate and misleading. They agree that the price of gas, milk, eggs and ammunition are all way up. We may argue on what to do in Iraq, other justifications for war, and how to cut back our budgets to pay for gas, milk, eggs, and bullets. But this is neighborly conversation over a picket fence, not shouting over a political divide. The American mission is not going to be found in calling the shots in Iraq. It is not going to be discovered on some neo-Columbus global adventure to conquer and claim the rest of the world's wealth and strategic ports. A recent administration visitor to Iraq noted that one of Iraq's big problems today is that they have no new "patriotic songs" and that America should do something about that. Perhaps instead of writing patriotic songs for the 2% of Iraqis who would sing our tune, we ought to lower our sights on the American mission. In trading Washington's imperial hubris for a something more suited to a constitutional republic, Washington politicians will find a comfortable and honorable resonance with Americans of all political persuasions.
Karen Kwiatkowski [send her mail] is a recently retired USAF lieutenant colonel, who spent her final four and a half years in uniform working at the Pentagon. She now lives with her freedom-loving family in the Shenandoah Valley. posted 29 Jun 04
This is a crazy world. What can be done? Amazingly, we have been mislead. We have been taught that we can control government by voting. The founder of the Rothschild dynasty, Mayer Amschel Bauer, told the secret of controlling the government of a nation over 200 years ago. He said, "Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation and I care not who makes its laws." Get the picture? Your freedom hinges first on the nation's banks and money system. Freedom is connected with Debt Elimination for each individual. Not only does this end personal debt, it places the people first in line as creditors to the National Debt ahead of the banks. They don't wish for you to know this. It has to do with recognizing WHO you really are in A New Beginning: A Practical Course in Miracles, an informational study. Disclaimer - The posting of stories, commentaries, reports, documents and links (embedded or otherwise) on this site does not in any way, shape or form, implied or otherwise, necessarily express or suggest endorsement or support of any of such posted material or parts therein. I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. (attributed to Voltaire), but certainly embodies what the 1st amendment of the constitution refers to as the freedom of speech
Bill of RightsAmendment 1Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
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